Q1 2025 Demant A/S Interim Management Statement Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Jennifer Hogan - Citi - Analyst : Hi guys, thanks for taking my question. I have two, please. The first one is, I want to ask you about the managed care headwind to hearing aid wholesale in the quarter and whether you can talk to expectations for the rest of the year with regard to this topic? And the second question is if you could please provide any color on pricing of the new VA contracts, even ballpark figures? And can you also confirm whether Oticon is included in a new category or not?

Question: Jennifer Hogan - Citi - Analyst : Thank you. Helpful.

Question: Maja Pataki - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Hi, good afternoon. This is Maja. Two questions from my side as well. S°ren, maybe Q1 surprisingly soft should be improving throughout the year. Can you talk a bit about if there has been any pricing initiatives taken by you or your competitors that has been making the market even more challenging. That would be question number one. And then the second question relates the French market. We've seen some headlines with some news that there is a debate in France to lower the contribution on hearing aids going forward. Any thoughts about how this regulation could change and what the time frame for that could be?

Question: Maja Pataki - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Understood. Maybe quickly a follow-up, if I may. On France, you're indicating early signs of an acceleration and you still stick to your high single-digit growth for the year. Could you confirm this is on unit terms? What are you expecting from an ASP perspective?

Question: Maja Pataki - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Great. Thanks.

Question: Andjela Bozinovic - BNP Paribas Exane - Analyst : Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two as well. First one on the guidance. Can you give us any indication on your market growth assumptions by region? Specifically, if you anticipate a global market growth of 3% to 5% in units and France high single digits. What are other countries that are driving the slowdown? And any insight on the US commercial market assumptions for the rest of the year? And the second one on NHS. Can you give us any color on the loss of market share in the UK? And how should we think about the share going forward? Was this market share loss anticipated? Is it a change in legislation or anything similar? Thank you a lot

Question: Andjela Bozinovic - BNP Paribas Exane - Analyst : All right. Thank you. Unidentified Participant (technical difficulty) All right, For the United managed care contract there seems to be a big contract to (technical difficulty) when comparing to where you were before the exit in 2024, how much back in managed care are you now? How much more do you need to win back or get back on in order to say that you're fully backed. And also, I had expected you would enter with the Bernafon and not the Oticon brand. So why did you decide to offer the absolute premium brand to managed care here? Thank you.

Question: Susannah Ludwig - Bernstein - Analyst : Great, thanks for taking my questions. I have two, please. First, I guess, you're just a bit more conservative than peers on the outlook for the global market, which seems to come from a different view on the US recovery. You could talk a little bit about how the US market performed in April and so far in the start of May and sort of what you're extrapolating for the rest of the year and whether you see any sort of pent-up demand from users who didn't seek hearing aids in Q1? And then second, just on your retail business. It's obviously performed well over the past several quarters. And you seem to have been outperforming in the US. So just wondering to what extent has sort of XD managed care and sort of a smaller role in managed care in the US played a part in the better performance versus the market.

Question: Susannah Ludwig - Bernstein - Analyst : Great, thank you REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 07, 2025 / 12:00PM, DEMANT.CO - Q1 2025 Demant A/S Interim Management Statement Call

Question: Martin Parkh°i - SEB - Analyst : Yes, Martin Parkh°i, SEB. Just a question on the mid-term and long-term targets. Of course, you raised the market expectations back at the CMD in March, and that was after a very strong year for the market with huge commercial growth in US if you should set the targets for the market for the next three to five years now, would it still then be the same? Or are you maybe a little bit cautious also on the mid- to long-term ASP development? And then the second question is also based on your own ambitions to see organic growth to 6% to 8% for demand that -- that has of course, been a little bit challenging last year and this year with both the slowdown this year, as you expect on hearing health care, but also the dognostics which is also part of, of course, the group business is how far we'll wait for you to return to that midterm growth again? And then just a final question. Are you satisfied with the R&D efficiency in Demant? Do you believe that your -- the number of products and form factors to like is coming at the speed that you actually like to go?

Question: Martin Parkh°i - SEB - Analyst : Thank you.

Question: Julien Ouaddour - BofA Securities - Analyst : Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks a lot for my questions. I have one, and sorry if you already answered to it. But -- looking at the hearing aid business. So you reported minus 4% in Q1. The market was growing 2% volume negative ASP. So if I understand correctly, you expect to catch up with the market growth for the full year, which means we still expect to believe the market share gain in the remaining nine months. So the question is, does it include the tailwind from the managed care for the remainder of the year? Or does it rely on the new product leading this year? Thank you very much.

Question: Julien Ouaddour - BofA Securities - Analyst : Okay. Okay. Perfect. I mean, and you -- like you haven't mentioned maybe the launch of a lack of new platform at some point this year.

Question: Julien Ouaddour - BofA Securities - Analyst : Perfect. Thank you very much.

Question: Martin Brenoe - Nordea Markets - Analyst : Thank you thank you very much for taking my question. I had some issues with the line. So sorry if this question has already been answered. But last year, when you pulled out of United, I think that you were quite vocal that this was something that the independents were very happy about and supported, and you expected some market share gains in that segment. How has the reaction been now where you completely come back to REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 07, 2025 / 12:00PM, DEMANT.CO - Q1 2025 Demant A/S Interim Management Statement Call United and even bring in the Oticon brand, which you were sure you could leave out in that you would have Bernafon in there? Just curious if you had any reactions on the independent side from this.

Question: Martin Brenoe - Nordea Markets - Analyst : Okay, that's very clear. Thanks.