Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to Amplifon's conference call on fourth quarter and full year 2025 results.

Before we start, few logistics comments. Earlier we issued a press release related to our results, and this presentation is posted on our website in the investors section.

The call can be accessed also via webcast, and dial-in details are on Amplifon's website as well as on our press release. I have to bring your attention to the disclaimer on slide two, as some of the statements made during this call may be considered forward-looking statements.

With that, I am now pleased to turn the call over to Amplifon CEO, Enrico Vita.

Thank you, Francesca. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us.

Let me begin with a few remarks on the year that just ended, which was without doubt characterized by market growth below the historical trend. However, we are convinced that this was primarily driven by the well-known geopolitical and macroeconomic factors, which weighed on consumer confidence.

As we are also convinced that this does not reflect any structural change in our sector. In the United States, market growth was significantly below the levels we have experienced in the recent past.

This was mainly due to a significant decrease in the managed care channel, primarily following the reduction of hearing benefits offered by major insurance providers. Europe also developed more slowly than we had initially anticipated, with the only exception of France in terms of volume.

In Q4, the global demand was likewise below historical level. We estimate it to have been only slightly positive, 1% to 2%, largely reflecting in particular the softer US environment.

That said, we do not see demand fading away. Quite the opposite, we believe a degree of pent-up demand is being built, which should gradually materialize over time, although the exact timing is not easy to predict, depending on external factors.

That's also why we expect a better environment in 2026. I will return to this point at the end of the presentation.

In Q4, we continued to outperform the market in most of our individual key countries, including for example Italy, the United States, Australia, France, and some others. In the quarter, our sales increased by 1.4% at constant exchange rates, while foreign exchange was a significant headwind of more than 3%.

On the positive note, I would like to highlight that we returned to positive organic growth across all the three regions and that the profitability trend also improved compared to the first nine months. As to structurally and meaningfully enhance our profitability, at the beginning of the year we proactively and decisively launched the Fit for Growth plan designed to best position the group for 2026 and beyond.

Let's go to the next chart for a more detailed update on this. Fit for Growth is progressing very well and is currently tracking ahead of our initial plan, at the high end of our target range of 150 to 200 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin improvement by 2027.

I can also anticipate to you that we expect to see tangible results of our work already in this first part of 2026. In 2025, we closed or consolidated approximately 160 non-performing clinics across 10 countries while implementing the related headcount efficiencies.

These actions are meaningfully improving the overall efficiency and quality of our sales network. As of today, we have also identified additional efficiency and optimization opportunities for 2026, as you can see in the chart.

Additionally, we have implemented a series of back-office optimization initiatives leading to an overall efficiency of approximately 100 headcount during 2025, with further opportunities now identified for 2026. Moreover, we delivered a significant €30 million reduction in CapEx in 2025 compared to 2024, driven by rigorous prioritization of high-return projects while fully preserving strategic investments.

Additionally, we are targeting a further reduction in 2026, reflecting the completion of some important transformative IT programs of the last years. Finally, we conducted a comprehensive strategic review of the attractiveness of all our business segments and related Amplifon competitive positioning.

As part of this portfolio review, on March 2nd, we completed the divestiture of our loss-making business in the US, in the UK. In addition, a managed care contract in the United States was terminated due to the anticipated structural margin compression in a context of decreasing volumes.

Gabriele will provide further details on both profitability drivers in the next session. Finally, during the first quarter of 2025, as we significantly rationalized our non-strategic wholesale operations in China.

As already shared, these actions are aiming at sharpening our focus on core business segments and reallocating capital towards the group's highest potential, profit-accretive growth opportunities. Considering the progress achieved and the additional opportunities identified, the Fit for Growth plan now targets an adjusted EBITDA margin run rate improvement at the upper end of the previously communicated 150-200 basis points range by 2027.

Importantly, the expected non-recurring cash costs to implement the plan are now expected at approximately €25 million in total compared to the €35 million initially anticipated. This cost will be incurred between '25 and '26, of which circa €9 million had already been recognized in 2025.

With that, I will now hand over to Gabriele, who will walk you through our performance in more detail.

Thanks, Enrico, and good afternoon to everybody. Turning to chart number six, we can appreciate more in detail the two latest developments within the portfolio optimization stream of Fit for Growth.

Firstly, on March the 2nd, following a comprehensive review of our business segments, we completed the sale of our UK business, which included a network of approximately 100 direct clinics across England and Wales and a workforce of around 260 employees. It generated a revenue of €33 million in 2025 and, as was very dilutive to the group's financials.

Consequently, the divestment is expected to positively contribute to Amplifon Group's EBITDA margin, while it is expected to generate one-off costs with no cash impact of around €18 million in the first quarter of 2026, related to the accounting effects of the reclass to the income statement of cumulative negative amount of exchange differences previously recognized in the equity. Secondly, since January, an agreement with an insurance company in the US managed care business was terminated as we received progressively significant requests for price reduction that were not compatible with sustainable profitability over time.

The recurring discount dynamics being requested would have led to a structural margin compression in a context of decreasing volumes in mature segment with limited growth prospects. This contract had a marginal impact on the group's total revenues in the region of 1%, and no one-offs are expected to the termination of this agreement.

Of course, we continue to operate in the insurance segment, now with a more diversified and selective portfolio characterized by different profitability profiles. Moving to slide six, we have a look at the group profitability in full year 2025.

Revenues grew 1.7% at constant FX, with flat organic growth, reflecting a significant improvement in the second half of the year, despite the strong comparison base of 7% growth at constant FX in '24 versus '23 and the global market demand still below historical level. In particular, the US private market was flat in 2025, primarily due to the negative performance of the insurance segment, while the European market reflected the low consumer confidence.

M&A contribution was 1.7%, reflecting the acquisition of 250 locations and the closure of around 160 clinics, together with the substantial rationalization of the non-core wholesale business in China within the Fit for Growth program. FX was a significant headwind of -2.3% due to the depreciation of the euro versus the Australian, US, and New Zealand dollars, bringing the growth at current FX to -0.6%.

Adjusted EBITDA came in at €540 million, with margin at 22.6%, 90 basis points below the previous year, due to the lower operating leverage, the dilution effect of the growth of Miracle-Ear direct network in the US, the less favorable country mix in EMEA, and the higher marketing investment to further strengthen our distinctive assets. Moving to slide seven, we have a look at our financial performance in Q4 '25.

Revenues were up 1.4% at constant FX versus Q4 '24, with organic growth at 0.6% and back to positive territory in all the three regions, although still reflecting the global market demand below historical growth levels. M&A and perimeter change contribution was +0.8%, due to the acquisitions as well as the implementation of the Fit for Growth program.

FX was a material headwind of -3.3%, increasing throughout the year. Adjusted EBITDA was €145 million, with margin at 22.3%, 90 basis points below prior year, due to the lower operating leverage, the growth of Miracle-Ear's direct retail, and the higher marketing expenses.

Moving to slide eight, we have a look at EMEA performance. In the quarter, revenue grew at constant FX by 1.6%, with organic performance at +0.4%, improving sequentially.

In this context, we posted a strong and above-market growth in France and a solid organic growth in Spain, while Germany was in negative territory. M&A and perimeter change was +1.2%, reflecting M&A mainly in France, Germany, and Poland, and selected closures in France, Germany, and Spain.

Adjusted EBITDA was €107.5 million, in line with Q4 2024, with margin at 24.6%, 40 basis points below Q4 '24, due to lower operating leverage. In the full year, revenue growth was +1.5%, with organic performance at -0.6% and M&A contribution at +2.1%.

Adjusted EBITDA was circa €413 million, with margin at 26.6%, 70 basis points below last year. Moving to slide number nine, we have a look at the performance in Americas.

Revenue growth in the quarter was +2% at constant FX, while FX headwind was a significant -9.9%. Organic growth was positive for +0.9% thanks to the strong performance of Miracle-Ear direct retail, despite the very high comparison base with double-digit organic growth in US in Q4 '24, and a slightly negative private market in the US due to the underperformance of the insurance segment.

M&A and perimeter change was positive for 1.1%, reflecting acquisition in the US and some selected closures in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Adjusted EBITDA was €33.8 million, with margin at 26% versus 26.8% last year, due to the growth of Miracle-Ear direct network in the US and the lower operating leverage.

In the full year, revenues were up 4% at constant FX, driven by a solid and above-market organic growth, despite the remarkable '24 comparison base. Adjusted EBITDA was €116.4 million, with margin at 23.5%, 150 basis points below prior year, for the reason I just mentioned.

Moving to slide 10, we have a look at APAC performance. In the quarter, revenue performance was -0.3% at constant FX, reflecting +0.8% organic growth, improving 270 basis points over Q3, despite the soft underlying market due to lower consumer confidence.

In this context, we posted a solid and above-market performance in Australia, which more than offset the negative performance in New Zealand and China. M&A and perimeter change was -1.1%, reflecting the carryover from the implementation of the Fit for Growth program.

FX headwind was a significant -8.4%, driven by the depreciation of all the regional currencies versus the euro. Adjusted EBITDA reached €20.9 million, with margin at 24.4% versus 25.4% last year, due to a lower operating leverage and higher marketing investments.

In full year '25, both organic performance and perimeter change were flattish, while FX was a headwind for 6.4%. Adjusted EBITDA was €85.9 million, with margin at 24.9%, 130 basis points below '24, due to lower operating leverage.

Moving to slide number 11, we appreciate the full year income statement. In '25, total revenue came to €2.4 billion, an increase of 1.7% at constant FX versus prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA was €540 million, with a margin at 22.6%, 90 basis points below '24, for the just mentioned reasons. D&A excluding PPA were at €259 million versus €252 million last year, increasing around €7 million in light of the investment in network, digital transformation, and innovation, thus at a less pronounced growth versus the growth recorded in the previous year.

This led the adjusted EBIT to €281 million versus €314 million last year. Net financial expenses amounted to €63.7 million versus €59.2 million in '24, primarily due to the interest on higher net financial debt and interest on lease liabilities following the strong M&A and network expansion.

Tax rate posted a 70 bps increase versus '24, leading adjusted net profit at around €159 million versus €188 million in '24. Moving to next chart, chart 12, we see the profit and loss evolution in Q4.

Total revenue came at €652 million, an increase of 1.4% at constant FX versus prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was €145.5 million, with margin at 22.3%.

D&A excluding PPA decreased by around €6 million, leading the adjusted EBIT to €82 million, with margin at 12.6%. Net financial expenses were unchanged year-on-year at €15.5 million, leading profit before tax at around €67 million.

Tax rate ended at 25.6%, leading adjusted net profit to €49.5 million versus €53.8 million last year. Moving to slide 13, we appreciate the cash flow evolution.

Adjusted operating cash flow after lease liability was in the period equal to €428 million, €28 million below the €456 million achieved last year. Net CapEx decreased by around €30 million to circa €117 million, leading adjusted free cash flow to €174 million.

Net cash-out for M&A was €62 million versus the exceptional level of €193 million in '24. The cash-out for share buyback program was €108 million.

NFD ended slightly above €1 billion, after strong investment for over €350 million in CapEx, M&A, dividends, and buyback. Moving to chart 14, we have a look at debt profile trend and the key financial ratios.

As mentioned, the net financial debt ended slightly above €1 billion, with liquidity accounting for €310 million, short-term debt accounting for around €365 million, and medium/long-term debt accounting for around €990 million. Following the IFRS 16 application, lease liabilities were around €486 million, leading the sum of net financial debt and lease liability to €1.53 billion.

Equity ended up at around €1 billion, mainly due to high FX translation differences at around €80 million, dividends, and share buybacks. Looking at financial ratios, net debt over EBITDA ended at 1.92 versus 2.09 in September and 1.63 in December last year, after the strong investments in CapEx, M&A, share buybacks, and dividends.

Net equity over debt ended at 1.05 times. I will now hand over to Francesca for some comments on our sustainability path during 2025.

Thanks, Gabriele. Let's now discuss our further significant step up in our sustainability agenda.

First, in March 2025, we published our first sustainability reporting in full compliance to the new CSRD requirements and ESRS standards. In the next weeks, we will publish the 2025 consolidated sustainability reporting.

In 2025, we reached important milestones in our climate strategy. We obtained SBTi validation of our climate targets, we reduced our total emissions by 14%, and increased the share of energy from renewable sources to 83%.

During the year, we also focused on our most important asset: our people. In 2025, we delivered around 600,000 hours of training, confirming our constant attention to skill development and professional growth.

This commitment, together with other important initiatives, enabled us to obtain the Global Top Employer 2026 certification, an excellent recognition awarded only to a small number of organizations worldwide. Finally, we continued to conduct ESG assessments on our direct and indirect suppliers and continued to successfully integrate our sustainability targets within our financial strategy.

Only in 2025, we subscribed five new ESG-linked credit facilities for a total amount of €400 million. We look therefore forward to our journey toward an even more sustainable company.

With this, I leave the floor to Enrico for the outlook. Enrico.

Thank you, Francesca. We have now reached the final slide of today's presentation.

While the market growth in 2025 was below historical averages and our initial expectations, we executed several meaningful initiatives to accelerate future revenue growth and to structurally enhance profitability. Looking ahead to 2026, starting with the market outlook.

In Europe, after three consecutive years of growth below historical levels, we expect a gradual normalization. In the United States, we anticipate a recovery supported by an easier comparison base and a more positive private market environment.

As a result, we foresee a gradual improvement in the global market demand, now expected in the region of +3%. In this context, we aim to outperform in each of our individual key markets, with organic growth showing solid, progressive improvement compared to 2025, driven by better market conditions, the initiatives implemented over the past year, and the benefits of our marketing investments.

On profitability, we aim to deliver a material improvement, supported not only by a more favorable market environment, but also by the continued execution of our Fit for Growth program, whose results are expected to be strong and already visible in the first part of this year. With that, we thank you for your attention, and we are now happy to take your questions.

Hi, good afternoon. I hope you can hear me well.

My question is on the guidance. Can you maybe help us understand the guidance a bit better?

On revenue growth, you expect the market to grow at 3%, and what level of outperformance should we assume? Given the divestures you have announced, can you confirm that the base that we should base our assumptions on is lower?

My math points to around 3% lower base, but any feedback here would be great. Also, on the margin guidance, you are calling out for the high end of 150 to 200 basis points improvement from Fit for Growth.

Can you update us on the phasing between 2026 and 2027 of this? If you can share any indication of the quarters in 2026?

Should we assume any operational leverage on top of it for the margin improvement in 2026?

Let's start with the outlook on revenue. I think that we have provided you with all the different key drivers for our 2026 outlook.

In particular, as said, we expect a gradual improvement in the global market, and which is an improvement that we see both in the EMEA region, but also in the US. As said also, we aim to overperform in each individual market, as we did also in 2025.

What I mean is that we are pretty confident that in all our key individual markets in Q4, in Italy, or in France, or in the US, we have outperformed the market, and therefore we have not lost share. On the contrary, we believe that in this, in the majority of the key markets in which we operate, we have gained share.

Of course, we are not guiding today on the revenue per se, but we are saying that the goal for us is to overperform in each individual market. Of course, the overall result will depend also from the different growth rates that we will see in these markets.

Then on the top line, of course you should expect the effect of the divestiture of the UK. You should expect also the effect of the termination of the contract in the US.

You should expect also some carryover of the Fit for Growth initiatives that we have I think shared on the chart. You should also add, on top of the solid organic growth that we envisage, you should also add a positive contribution coming from M&A.

In particular, as in 2025 we have slowed down our M&A investments. This mainly because we wanted to focus all our markets, all our organization on the execution of Fit for Growth, which is going very well and very happy about how our organization have implemented the different streams.

We are now looking at basically complete the vast majority of our activities in terms of Fit for Growth in the market in the first half of 2026, so that we want to restart with M&A, let's say, starting from the second quarter of this year onwards. Basically plus and minus should be more or less offsetting each other in terms of, let's say, M&A or perimeter change, and then you should expect the growth coming mainly from the organic growth, which, as I said, is expected to be definitely improving versus last year and to improve solidly versus 2025.

With regards to the profitability, for now we are not guiding on a specific target for 2026. We are guiding on our Fit for Growth program, which, as I said, is progressing extremely well, very happy.

You should see the benefit of all the four streams that we have highlighted in our chart: so the network efficiency enhancements, the back-office efficiency, the cost containment program, as well as the strategic review of all our business segments. That we expect already a strong contribution coming from Fit for Growth already in 2026 and in the first part, I would say, of 2026.

Thank you. Operator, can we move to the next call, as we have a longer queue?

Again, in the fairness to everybody, please keep to two questions maximum. Thanks.

Thanks. Good afternoon.

Ciao.

My two questions. The first one is on possibility of exiting other countries.

Do you think that after UK you are done or should we expect something else? Also, possible to see further disengagement from managed care in the US or you're done with this contract termination?

Second question is on profitability, and maybe if you can help us understanding profitability evolution net of Fit for Growth contribution. Maybe upon which growth level should we expect margin expansion in 2026?

Linked to that, I saw a lot of non-recurring costs on 2025 adjusted EBITDA, if you can comment a bit on those. Thank you.

Absolutely. With regards to the first question, basically no decision, no other strategic decision or step has been formalized or taken, I would say.

Of course, we want to build much stronger profitability profile. We want to invest where we have, let's say, the best opportunities to win, which means where we have strong brands, where we have strong networks, etc.

With regards to managed care, now we have a much more, I would say, diversified client base, which make us much more comfortable also looking forward. With regards to the profitability, I would say that you should expect now a significant contribution from, as I said before, from Fit for Growth already in 2026 and also in 2027.

Of course, the profitability increase will be also function of the organic growth and therefore of the operating leverage going forward. With regards to the last part of the question and therefore the EBITDA adjusted, I would leave to Gabriele that can give you more colors.

Absolutely. It's related to some different topics.

Fit for Growth, as you can imagine, is by far the most important. as Enrico was mentioning, we are ahead of the plan, and so, we started with the costs related to the closure of the shops and the optimization of the back office.

A second important item: during 2025, we wanted to have an homogenization and a standardization of the way we take the inventory reserve across the different country. it was the first year in which we have a common policy across all the 25 country where we operate.

This basically led us to an adjustment in terms of inventory reserve. We also had a couple of topic to be addressed coming from the past: one in the US and one in Australia.

Apart these four buckets, normally we put here the costs related to the integration of some M&A. During 2025, but also during 2024, as you can see from the comparative, basically there are the costs related to M&A especially.

These are, I would say, the four five buckets. It's, of course, something that we do not expect is going to happen by cash point of view in the coming years.

Next question, please.

Thank you for taking my questions. Good evening, everyone.

I got to stick to two. The first one is, I just want to try to understand the organic growth there.

It seems that the global hearing aids market was growing, roughly around 2% plus in 4Q. You reported 0.6% organic growth in the quarter.

You said that you gained share in key markets. Does it mean that you're losing shares in other markets on a same-store basis?

I just want to reconcile, basically, your performance and the market growth. How can you, basically, be back to grow again at least in line with the 3% market growth in '26?

That's the first question. The second one is on Amplifon Hearing Health Care within your US business.

Could you remind us how big it is? Then, following the termination of one contract that you announced, could you just consider maybe exiting more, as I imagine, price pressure is just happening everywhere, or maybe even exiting completely managed care?

Is it something that you consider right now? Thank you.

I will start with the second question, which is a definite no. What I mean is that we're not planning at all actually to exit managed care.

Actually, we have now a much more solid business, I think, because it is built across many different clients. Perhaps to have one big client, of course, would have led to a situation where the kind of price pressure that we received was not anymore compatible with our targets in terms of profitability.

Today we are definitely much more, let's say, comfortable with the kind of margin profile that we have got across many different smaller clients, where we can definitely have a much better profitability profile. We're not planning to reduce further.

We are not planning at all to exit Amplifon Hearing Health Care. Actually, we have a renewed effort to grow there, but perhaps in smaller accounts, with different margin profile, focusing on the quality of the service, and therefore with, let's say, more positive prospects of profitable growth.

Then with regards to our organic growth in Q4, yes, I mentioned that the global market actually we estimate to be slightly positive, but we have to and I mentioned also that we are pretty confident, according to the info that we get, which of course have some degree of, let's say, variability because they are sell-in data, etc., etc., but we are pretty confident that we have gained share in basically all the major markets in which we operate. I take you, for example, one market which was Australia.

Australia in Q4 was pretty negative, mid-single digit negative. We were positive.

The difference between our organic growth and the growth that we reported is mainly due to the market mix. For example, in Q4 the UK market was positive, which, unfortunately for us, was a very small market.

Also in terms of channels, as far as I understand, NHS was very positive. We do not operate in the NHS.

There is a mixed effect, which we expect in a way to improve in terms of mix in 2026, also in consideration that some effects like, for example, we mentioned in particular in Q2 the anniversary of the COVID in a couple of very important markets for us like Italy or Spain in 2026, we should not have this kind of negative effects, and therefore we see these markets performing better than in 2025. The difference is mainly related to market mix.

As I said, if I look at France, according to the data that we get, we are very confident to have gained share. If I look at Australia, as said, we are also in the US actually, the market was slightly negative and we were slightly positive.

Even in Spain, we have posted a solid growth. We are I think gaining share in the different individual markets.

The mix of the market was not very favorable to us, but we expect this trend to change already in 2026.

Perfect. Thank you very much, Enrico.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Two questions on my side.

First, I'm trying to understand the European performance, because I was expecting more sizable contribution from France. Is is fair to to assume that Europe was down if you exclude France?

On the expected recovery, I'm trying to understand if you see signs of market recovery on the funnel, for example, or on the engagement with clients. What is driving your confidence, given also the fact that consumer confidence is very is still very depressed if if I look around?

Yeah.

With regards to France, in Q4 according to the data that we get, the market was up double digits. However, this is volume growth, whilst in value terms you should reduce this number at least by 2 or 3 percentage points.

Then with regards why we are envisaging a better market in 2026, I think that there are some elements that weighed on 2025 which are going to disappear. It is true what you say, but I think that in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, the anniversary of the COVID had a significant impact, definitely in Q2, but also a small impact also in Q4.

You may recall a much smaller impact also in Q4. You may recall also the lockdowns in Q4, etc., etc.

These kind of factors, of course, are not going to be there anymore. Actually, we should see the pick up the anniversary of the pickup that we have experienced in this market in 2021.

I expect this market to perform better also on top of an easier comparison base. In the US, if we take another very big market, the main driver for the poor performance of the US market, which ended at the end of the year with basically zero growth, was the insurance channel, which, as I said, was basically related to some big insurance cutting back some benefits plans, and probably on the commercial side also there was some cost consciousness from employers that may have played a role.

I think that now this kind of negative performance of the insurance channel should soften. What we expect a better insurance market in 2026.

I think that in 2026 we had some key factors which affected some of our key markets and which are not should not be there anymore in 2026.

Thanks.

Next question, please.

Hi. Good evening.

Thank you for taking my questions. Hi, guys.

I just want to circle back to sort of your comments around outperformance in each of the markets. Obviously, Enrico, I appreciate there's we get volume data, you're looking at value, we don't have country-level information, we only have regional information.

Just looking at your growth in the Americas, if I strip out Argentina, it seems you're underperforming the market. If I look at Europe, it seems like you're underperforming the market.

Can you maybe talk a little bit

Sorry, Veronika. I didn't get this point about what You mentioned Argentina?

Yeah.

No, that, if I look at the Americas and I remove Argentina, it looks like the US was down in a flat market for you. If I look at Europe, obviously you seem to be putting up much lower growth rates than the manufacturers are in Europe.

I'm just trying to understand where this confidence of outperforming the market is coming from. I guess if you can give us a little bit of reassurance that is indeed happening, because looking at your performance, and it's not just this quarter, unfortunately, right, it's now been a trend for a couple of quarters where certainly from the data that we see from the outside, it does look like you are not growing in line with the market.

Have you done some work to absolutely verify that you are growing in line or ahead of the market? Or is there something that needs to change in terms of lead generation, etc., that you need to address?

I know it's a very long question, but it's sort of one that's top of our mind.

No. It's very clear.

I think that it's a very important question, but I would answer with a definite no. What I mean is that we are absolutely convinced that overall we are performing at least in line with the market, if not better.

What I mean is that if you take, for example, as I said, Australia, according to the official data, Australia in Q4 was very very negative, between 5%-6% or even more than that. We had a positive organic growth.

If you take France, as I mentioned, the market growth in France was double digit, but we performed in terms of units better than the market, thanks to all the work that we did last year, etc., etc. If then you take also the US, in the US we were slightly positive in a context of a market which was, again, according to HIA data, slightly negative.

This is a data for Q4, as I said, is related to sell-in. Also in the full year, the US market growth was basically zero, as I said, mainly driven by the insurance segment.

No, I'm very confident that we have at least held our share. I mentioned in the past that we were not performing in line with the market in Spain, but now we see the results of all our work, of the work that we have done, the new management team has done, and in fact in Q4 we posted a solid growth.

We are pretty confident that definitely we are not losing share. Of course, as I said many times, there is a mix difference, if you compare our performance with the manufacturers, both in terms of markets, as I said, for example, the UK for us is was a very small market, or in terms of channels, which, as far as I understand, are performing very well like the NHS or performed very well or like VA.

Enrico, can I just ask: you didn't mention Italy, which is obviously your single biggest market in Europe. How are you performing in Italy versus the market?

The market I'm absolutely sure that we performed in at least in line with the market, if not better. As I said, the market in Italy, especially in Q2, if you look at the full year, was was very negative for for the anniversary of of of the the the COVID in 2020.

Also in Q4 was not really very positive. We are expecting a much better market in in in Italy in 2026 for the anniversary of the pickup in the month in the month that we had in 2021.

Overall we expect a more favorable mix of market in 2026.

Got it. Thanks so much.

I'm absolutely convinced that specifically to Italy we have not lost share.

Can we move to the next, operator?

Yes. Good afternoon.

Thanks for taking my two questions. The first one is general market specific one.

Your expectations of 3% for '26 are still below the historic growth level. The base in '25 is super low historically.

We saw potentially the weakest market year in decades. Normally there was always a return to the mean.

Now expectations have lowered. What has changed in the near view of the hearing aid market?

That's question number one. Question number two, you talked a lot about '25 and the regional performances, and you gave a quick hint on US for '26.

Can you also give a more profound view about the different regions, how which performance do you see for them, and what are the drivers? Thank you.

With regard to the first question, the 3% market, I see that some of our suppliers have even a more positive view on the total market. I think that 3% is a fair assumption for 2026, also in consideration that we can't say that the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environment has no effect at all on our sector and on our patients.

As I said, we expect a better market in 2026 because in 2025 we had some material effect on some key markets for us. I mentioned the US.

I mentioned the decline of the insurance channel in the US. I mentioned Italy.

I mentioned Australia, etc., etc. We expect a better market also on the basis that in 2025 we had some specific events, and that also from a comparison base point of view, we should be in a better place in 2026.

With regards to the growth in 2026 by region, from an organic viewpoint, we expect to improve our organic growth, I would say, across the different three regions, with not a specific region going much faster than the others.

Thank you.

Hi, I hope that you can hear me okay. I would have two questions, please.

The first one is on the guidance itself. It's quite unusual that you guide in such a qualitative manner, I would like to understand just the rational behind that.

Still on that, should we understand that the level of visibility you have on the expected market recovery is low, given you have not quantified what we should expect for you to post into 2026? I would probably leave you some time to answer that question before asking the second one.

No. In terms of outlook, I think that we have given you many different indications.

Of course, it's early days. What I mean is that just two months of the year have ended, and you know very well that also March is a very important month.

We wanted to see also how we will end Q1 to give you maybe a better granularity at the end of the Q1. I think that this is pretty fair.

In consideration of the fact that, you know very well that, the market in these days not extremely predictable. We assume that we can give you more granularity at the Q1 results when at least we have the visibility on the Q1 actual and also April phase.

We prefer to give you this kind of more visibility at that time. Anyway, I think that we have given you also very precise indications in terms of what you should expect in terms of market growth, what you should expect in terms of M&A or perimeter change.

I think we have also said that we expect to improve materially our profitability already in 2026. I think that we have given a lot of different indications that could be useful for your models.

Thank you. On the second question, the second question is about just getting some insights on your regional growth expectations that are baked into the guidance.

Also, I would like some insights on the phasing as well. If you could do a bit of a focus on EMEA and talking a bit more about how do you think about France and Italy specifically for 2026, knowing that, as you said, Italy was apparently very negative the market was very negative in 2025, and knowing as well the fact that in 2026, and more specifically on Q2 2026, we should see the annualization of the strong growth that we've had in France?

You're right. What I mean is that definitely in Italy we expect a much better market in 2025 because we will not have the effects that weighed on 2020 2025 due to the anniversary of COVID.

Actually, we should have more returning customers coming from the increase of that we experienced in 2021 basically starting from the Q2, I would say, or first months of 2020 2026. With regards instead to France, I think that you should expect the continuation or anyway a good performance of the French market due to the anniversary of the reform in the first three, four months of the year.

Then, of course, we will be anniversaring the increase that we had in the market in 2025.

Next, please.

Hey, guys, thanks for the questions. First off, I just want to make sure we're all on the right page in terms of the base that we're working off in terms of both the sales and EBITDA.

The total impacts of the UK disposal, managed care, and the wholesale disposals, both on the top line and also EBITDA, please?

In terms of top line, as I said, you should expect more or less basically a netting impact of the divestiture of the UK, the managed care, etc., etc., to be offset almost offset entirely from our M&A. As I said, we are planning to restart, I would say, our M&A efforts, bolt-on M&A efforts basically starting from Q2.

As I said, in the second half in particular of last year, we have slowed down significantly our bolt-on acquisitions because we wanted to focus our organization on the Fit for Growth program, but we are ready to restart as soon as we have completed this program. We thought that would not make any sense actually to continue to acquire shops in a moment in which we were rationalizing our network.

With regards to profitability, as I said, we're not now giving you a specific number, but definitely we expect a material improvement in 2026. We already start to see the benefits of Fit for Growth, which should give the full benefit in 2027, but with material impact already in 2026.

Thanks.

We have

Hi, good evening and thanks for taking my questions. I have a question in regards to the Fit for Growth program savings.

Do you expect the full savings to drop down to margins? I know you also mentioned it will be a function of organic growth.

I guess said otherwise, what level of organic growth do you need to sustain margins at current levels and avoid deleveraging impacts?

No, well, thanks to Fit for Growth, we are envisaging to grow our margin even if, with zero organic growth. What I mean is that this is a program that, thanks God, we have initiated almost one year ago, and is going to have a positive impact already this year.

What I'm saying is that if on top of Fit for Growth, if we see a good operating leverage coming from a good organic growth, of course we can also have a better profitability beyond the Fit for Growth. Let's say that

I guess just to be clear, even if you have flat organic growth, you still can sort of have a 150 to 200 basis points of margin expansion due to the Fit for Growth improvements?

Let me say that the 150-200 basis points is the impact of Fit for Growth. Is the impact of Fit for Growth per se.

Absolutely.

Thanks.

We have one more question from Giorgio. Please, operator.

Hi, good evening, thanks for taking my questions. The first one is on M&A, after exiting the UK, if you are looking to enter new geographies to reduce the exposure to EMEA, maybe focusing more on strengthening the US direct-to-retail, and so on.

The second one is on China contribution in 2025. I saw you are also planning a rationalization of non-core wholesale in China, if you can clarify.

The very last one, if I may, is on the Fit for Growth. Should we expect benefit to be mostly embedded in each region profitability or also in terms of lower central costs?

Thank you.

Thank you for the question. In terms of new geographies, no, we have no plan to enter new geographies.

Of course, as you rightly pointed out, for sure US will be our first area of focus in terms of growth and in terms of M&A. For sure, we are envisaging a situation where we will restart bolt-on M&A in the US in 2020 in 2026.

With regards to China, in reality, the decision to exit the wholesale business we shared already in Q1, it's something that has been already done basically last year, so that is something that is already on the base of basically almost all 2020 2025. In China, we see the market stabilizing, we also there see a better environment in 2026.

With regards instead of Fit for Growth, can you please remind me which was the question on Fit for Growth? Central costs.

The central costs. Yes, of course.

Absolutely. For sure, we are looking at back office not only in the market, but also in headquarters.

Both in the corporate headquarters, but also in corporate in the quarter of the market.

Many thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have taken all the questions.

This concludes today's call. Thank you all for your interest and attendance.

We kindly ask operator to disconnect. Thank you.

Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you, bye.