Sonova Holding AG

For fiscal 2025/26, Sonova said group sales grew 5.5% including Consumer Hearing on a pro forma basis, while normalized EBITDA rose 14.5% and EPS increased 16%. By segment, Hearing Instruments sales rose 7.5% to CHF 3.4 billion and normalized EBITDA rose 17.3% to CHF 794 million, with a 23.7% margin. Wholesale sales were up 9.5% to CHF 1.9 billion, Retail sales rose 5.1% to CHF 1.5 billion, and Cochlear Implants sales were CHF 252 million, down 11%, with normalized EBITDA of CHF 17.2 million and a 6.8% margin. For 2026/27, management guided to consolidated sales growth of 5% to 8% and core EBIT growth of 7% to 10% at constant exchange rates; FX is expected to reduce Swiss-franc sales growth by 1 to 2 percentage points and core EBIT growth by 2 to 3 percentage points, with non-core items of CHF 35 million to CHF 40 million.

Eric Bernard framed the year as evidence that Sonova is executing well on its renewed strategy, saying the company outperformed the hearing care market and fully met guidance. He emphasized innovation and market-share gains from product launches such as Sphere, Ultra, Virto R and EasyGuard, while also highlighting a broader strategy focused on innovation for adoption, local multichannel execution, and operational excellence. His tone was confident on the outlook, but he noted that Cochlear Implants still face near-term headwinds and that the new processor launch is subject to regulatory approval.

Elodie Carr-Cingari focused on the operating leverage in the P&L, noting normalized operating expenses rose only 1.1% despite strong sales growth, with R&D up 3.8%, sales and marketing up 1.5%, and G&A essentially flat. She said normalized EBITA rose 17.3%, almost 3x faster than revenue, and explained that around CHF 90 million of normalizations included CHF 28 million of legal costs, about CHF 24 million of product liability reassessments, and around CHF 35 million of software impairments. She also highlighted solid cash conversion above 90%, CHF 46 million of acquisition spend, ROCE of 19%, and net debt to EBITDA of 1.1x, and she guided to CHF 35 million to CHF 40 million of non-core items next year, mainly restructuring and acquisition-related transaction/integration costs.

Analysts pressed on what is embedded in the sales and EBIT guidance, especially the roles of market growth, new launches, M&A and competitive launches. Management said the outlook is supported by Virto R momentum, share gains in key U.S. accounts, a new HI platform later in the year, and a CI processor launch in the second half, while retail M&A is expected to contribute about 1% to 2% for the group and there is no material supply-chain disruption. Questions also focused on APAC strategy and the China retail business; management said Asia is a two-step effort to win the right leadership and then tailor products locally, with Japan already growing at 30% to 45% and APAC ex-CI in Hearing Instruments up more than 8%, while China retail was described as a small contributor under 2% of group retail but improving through better lead generation and execution.