Haemonetics Corporation Aktie

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Haemonetics Corporation First Quarter 2027 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Olga Guyette, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Haemonetics first quarter fiscal year 2027 conference call and webcast. I'm joined today by Chris Simon, our CEO; and James D'Arecca, our CFO.

This morning, we reported first quarter fiscal '27 results and raised our fiscal 2027 guidance. Our earnings release, supplemental presentation and related materials are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

First quarter results are reported under the new reportable segment structure announced on June 5, 2026. Additional information, including historical recast financials and the presentation describing the changes is also available on our Investor Relations website.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we will use both reported and organic revenue growth rates that exclude the impact of FX and the exit of liquid solutions, and our fiscal year 2027 guidance is also adjusted for the impact of the 53rd week.

We'll refer to other non-GAAP financial measures to help investors understand Haemonetics' ongoing business performance. Please note that these measures exclude certain charges and income items. A full list of excluded items, reconciliations to our GAAP results and comparisons with the prior year periods are provided in our earnings release.

Our remarks today include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Factors that may cause our results to differ include those referenced in the safe harbor statement in today's earnings release and in other SEC filings. We do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining. We started FY '27 strong with broad-based execution driving another quarter of profitable growth. First quarter revenue was $339 million, increasing 6% reported and organic, while adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 4% to $1.14.

Investments we have made to enhance our portfolio, improve our operating model and strengthen commercial execution, are fueling consistent growth and strong cash generation. All three of our core platforms contributed to our performance this quarter, demonstrating the breadth of our business and reinforcing the confidence in our ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth.

Before discussing our business results, I'd like to welcome Dr. Martin Madaus to our Board of Directors. Martin has built a distinguished career leading global health care businesses through transformation, strengthening execution and creating long-term value. His strategic perspective and operating experience will be invaluable as we continue executing our strategy, and we're delighted to welcome him to the Board.

Now, let's discuss our business results. MedSurg revenue increased 6% year-over-year reported and organic to $148 million, with growth across both franchises. Blood Management Technologies grew 8% organically with double-digit growth in Hemostasis and Transfusion Management, partially offset by slowing Cell Salvage capital upgrades.

Hemostasis Management is the definition of durable growth with mid-teens disposable growth in the quarter driven by higher utilization across the installed base and continued share gains. The ongoing success of the HN cartridge underscores our ability to innovate, expand the clinical applications of this elastic testing and further strengthen our leadership position, creating a longer runway for sustainable growth.

Transfusion Management also continued to build momentum with another quarter of strong software implementations. Faster customer activations are expanding our recurring revenue base and enhancing the durability of revenue growth for this franchise.

Interventional Technologies returned to growth, growing organically 3%. Vascular Closure grew above market, increasing in the low-double-digits year-over-year and low-single-digits sequentially. Performance reflected contributions from all geographies, led by renewed momentum in the U.S. with VASCADE MVP and MVP XL and electrophysiology, more than offsetting softness in peripheral and coronary procedures and esophageal cooling.

Three factors are driving our Vascular Closure outperformance: first, the reacceleration of access site growth following the stabilization of PFA and atrial fibrillation procedures; second, stronger commercial execution resulting from the investments we've made in sales and marketing; and third, the momentum created by the VASCADE MVP XL expanded indication up to 17 French in outer diameter. Higher utilization, account wins and the expanded XL use case are driving broader adoption and positioning the franchise for resurgent growth.

We continue to strengthen the clinical evidence in large-bore venous closure with the largest real-world study of VASCADE MVP XL to date. The study conducted at Emory University in more than 1,600 patients demonstrated rapid hemostasis, greater than 92% same-day discharge, and an excellent safety profile in large-bore sheath procedures like PFA and LAAC. Together, the expanded indication and growing body of real-world clinical data further strengthen our competitive position and provide the foundation for broader physician adoption.

MedSurg is reemerging as a driver of Haemonetics' long-term growth, with two growth-oriented franchises supported by strong innovation, expanding adoption and improving market fundamentals. Solid first quarter performance reinforces our confidence in delivering mid-single-digit MedSurg growth in fiscal 2027.

Turning to Apheresis. Revenue grew 5% on a reported basis and 6% organic to $191 million. Plasma revenue grew 8% organic, reflecting double-digit growth in disposables globally, partially offset by a difficult prior year software comparison. Growth was supported by share gains, strong plasma collection trends and the rollout of Persona PLUS.

Collections among our U.S. customers increased in the high single to low-double-digits, including favorable ordering patterns, reinforcing continued IG demand and strong market fundamentals.

Persona PLUS is delivering meaningful economic benefits to our customers and reinforcing the unique value proposition of our integrated plasma collection platform. Through a simple firmware upgrade, Persona PLUS helps our customers increase plasma yield, improve center productivity and lower cost per liter. The rollout is progressing ahead of schedule and early adopters are achieving yield improvements in excess of 5% compared with our earlier Persona offerings. Other Apheresis revenue declined 3% organic, reflecting portfolio optimization and order timing.

Following a strong first quarter, we are raising our fiscal 2027 Apheresis revenue guidance to low to mid-single-digit growth. The increase reflects first quarter outperformance, while our expectations for the rest of the year remain balanced and largely unchanged, supported by share gains, Persona PLUS adoption and modest market growth assumptions.

Our first quarter performance reflects the strength of the overall business. Consistent execution across Plasma, Blood Management Technologies and Interventional Technologies demonstrate that our growth is becoming increasingly durable. Accordingly, we are raising our full year reported revenue growth guidance to 5% to 8% and organic growth guidance to 4% to 7%. We remain confident in our outlook while maintaining a disciplined approach to guidance for the rest of the year.

James, over to you.

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Chris highlighted the continued strengthening of our business, and our financial results reflect that same story, broader-based growth, improving revenue quality, favorable portfolio mix and an earnings algorithm that continues to strengthen through disciplined execution.

As our portfolio continues to shift toward higher-margin recurring revenue and differentiated technologies, we're beginning to realize the operating leverage from the investments we've made over the past several years.

First quarter gross margin was 60.4%, down 40 basis points from the prior year. The comparison was impacted by upfront software license revenue recognized in the first quarter of fiscal '26, which benefited prior year gross margin by approximately 200 basis points. Excluding the software benefit, adjusted gross margin expanded, driven by favorable product mix, continued Persona PLUS adoption, pricing actions and strong commercial execution.

Operating expenses increased 7% to $126 million, primarily reflecting higher personnel costs, including self-insured benefit plans, the Vivasure Medical acquisition and higher freight expense. Adjusted operating margin was 23.4%, down 70 basis points year-over-year, but expanded meaningfully after normalizing for the prior year software benefit. Sequentially, margin declined 100 basis points primarily due to lower MedSurg revenue following a strong fourth quarter and external cost pressures, partially offset by Persona PLUS and disciplined execution.

We remain confident in delivering 50 to 100 basis points of our adjusted operating margin expansion in fiscal '27. Our outlook incorporates sustained external cost pressure, which we expect to more than offset through revenue growth, favorable mix, Persona PLUS adoption, productivity and tariff recovery.

The adjusted tax rate was 25.7% compared with 24.9% in the prior year period, primarily reflecting lower tax benefits associated with equity compensation. Adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 4% year-over-year to $1.14, reflecting strong underlying operating performance.

Earnings growth was achieved despite higher interest expense, unfavorable foreign exchange and a higher tax rate, with those headwinds largely offset by the benefit of a lower diluted share count resulting from last year's share repurchases. Looking ahead, we expect adjusted earnings per diluted share to grow broadly in line with our increased reported revenue growth guidance for fiscal '27.

Now turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. Strong earnings once again translated into strong cash generation, reinforcing both the quality of our earnings and the durability of our operating model. Over the last 12 months, our cash earnings exceeded our P&L earnings, with free cash flow conversion reaching 106% of adjusted net income. We believe this level of cash conversion reflects the strength of the business and provides the financial flexibility to invest behind our strategic priorities, while continuing to strengthen the balance sheet. That strength was also evident in the first quarter.

Operating cash flow was $52 million, approximately 3x the prior year period, while free cash flow increased nearly 15-fold year-over-year. Free cash flow conversion reached 75% of adjusted net income, an exceptional result for what is typically our seasonally weakest net cash inflow quarter, driven by disciplined working capital execution and fewer device placements, partially offset by higher capital expenditures.

Our capital allocation actions reflect that financial strength. During the quarter, we repaid $50 million of our revolving credit facility balance and ended the quarter with $223 million in cash and a net leverage ratio, as defined in our credit agreement, of approximately 2.69x EBITDA.

Subsequent to quarter end, we repaid an additional $50 million, reducing the outstanding revolver balance to $200 million as of today's call. We continue to prioritize disciplined deleveraging, while maintaining ample capacity to invest in innovation, long-term growth and opportunistic share buybacks.

We are reaffirming our fiscal 2027 free cash flow conversion guidance of approximately 80% of adjusted net income. While the first quarter cash generation exceeded our expectations, maintaining our full year outlook reflects a disciplined approach in an evolving operating environment and preserves flexibility to proactively manage inventory and working capital throughout the year.

Before we open the line for questions, I'd like to leave you with three key takeaways from today's call. First, we continue to strengthen our portfolio. Persona PLUS is extending our differentiation in Plasma. Utilization and software share gains are enhancing the quality and durability of Blood Management Technologies. And Interventional Technologies is now positioned to become a more meaningful contributor to long-term growth and profitability.

Second, we remain confident in our fiscal '27 outlook. While we have increased both revenue and earnings guidance to reflect first quarter outperformance, our assumptions for the next 3 quarters remain balanced and largely unchanged, relying on continued execution and business momentum to further strengthen performance through the year.

And finally, strong earnings and free cash flow provide flexibility to invest in growth, strengthen the balance sheet and pursue disciplined capital allocation, including opportunistic share repurchases.

Thank you for joining us this morning. Operator, please open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Anthony Petrone with Mizuho Financial Group.

Congrats on the strong print here. Maybe, Chris, Jim, one on IVT, and then I'll have one on Plasma. Nice to see IVT coming back to growth here, organic growth 2.5%, gave some details there in your prepared remarks, Chris, but maybe a little bit more color on the dynamics of share shift? Few quarters ago, there was some dynamics from a private competitor plus a larger public competitor that has a consolidated approach. To what extent have you recaptured previously lost accounts? And what is the underlying attach rate to Pulsed Field Ablation for VASCADE as we enter August here? And then I'll have a follow-up on Plasma.

Anthony, IVT returned to growth in Q1, growing 3% organically, and that was most definitely led by low-double-digit growth in Vascular Closure, which is what we've expected. I think overall, it reflects a better market backdrop. We now see PFA at somewhere between 80% and 85% penetration. That's effectively stabilizing the access site growth rate for us, and we now think that growth rate is probably in the 6% to 7% range. We, of course, grew in excess of that. To your question, it's around driving greater utilization and additional share capture. When I call that out, I think there's really three things going on. A rising tide raises the whole category. That's the access site growth resuming and eventually regressing to whatever the AFib growth rate is, probably in the low to mid-double-digit, mid-teens.

I think the second thing is our commercial execution. The investments we've made in sales and marketing, that team is really beginning to hit their stride. And then I think the third thing is the MVP XL label expansion, coupled with a growing body of real-world evidence has enabled us to both contract for and pull through that utilization. So that's helping gain share. It's helping us drive utilization. We're benefiting by both levers.

And then on Plasma, Persona PLUS driving gains, you have two dynamics going on, ongoing share gains, but the underlying market, I guess, based on PPTA data, I think, looks okay. So maybe to what extent was the first quarter number here which was well ahead of expectations, driven specifically by Persona PLUS upgrades? To what extent was there incremental share gain?

And then just lastly, with CSL, is that completely out of there now? And is this like the first quarter of a clean number? Congratulations on the print.

Thanks again, Anthony. I'll start with the last piece of this. Yes, this is us finally outrunning any overhang. So both the divestiture and the customer loss, that $153 million is out. And so what you see from us is clean and recurring going forward. In terms of the first quarter, I think it reinforced the strength of Plasma that we've been experiencing. Revenue was up 8% despite what you know to be a really difficult software comparison from last year. North American disposables within that were up in the mid-20% range and our European sales were double-digit as well.

So really pleased with what we're seeing. It's a combination, as we've talked before, for sure, share gains, both prior share gains in the U.S. and new share gains globally, coupled with really robust collection volume. And yes, Persona PLUS, the early stage of that rollout. When I think about Persona PLUS, I guess what I would just highlight is that we're really pleased. And perhaps more importantly, customers are really pleased with what that's bringing to the market.

Adoption has accelerated. So it's importantly contributing, but that will become more meaningful as we go forward. And we've just tried to be really conservative about what we're forecasting simply because we don't have a signed contract and a committed time line, we're going to hold off on putting that in. That's just discipline in our go-forward guidance.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Allen Gong with JPMorgan.

I suppose I just had one on the margin performance in the quarter. So I think we saw gross margins excluding the comp expanding nicely over last year. When we think about the outlook for the rest of the year, how should we think about the progression of gross margins?

Yes, sure. Thanks, Allen. I'll address that. So Q1 operating margin came in right where we expected it to. And as you mentioned, we were lapping about a 200 basis point gross margin headwind from the $14 million software benefit that we had in the prior year. And we were able to offset that essentially -- essentially all of it through favorable mix and strong execution on the manufacturing side. Now, sequentially, margin was down from Q4. That's really a MedSurg story. Q4 was an unusually strong quarter for BMT. So what you're seeing in Q1 is more of a leverage issue on lower revenue rather than anything really structural in the cost base.

So as we move forward and we look at the rest of the year, the earnings algorithm that I mentioned in my opening remarks is pretty straightforward. SG&A should stay relatively stable in dollar terms. So as revenue builds, we should see better leverage flow through the P&L. You layer in the continued pricing from Persona PLUS, that Chris mentioned, and other benefits and mix, and that should support sequential margin expansion as we move throughout the year.

One thing I would like to flag on tariffs. So we will record about $7 million tariff refund in Q2. But I wouldn't read too much into that on a net basis. We expect that to be largely offset from headwinds, from higher oil prices and transportation costs and some material inflation later on in the year. So when you put it all together, as we stand today, we feel good about reaffirming our full year margin guidance, and we look forward to delivering on that.

And then just a follow-up on IVT. So Vascular Closure sounds like had a really strong quarter, double-digit growth, really good to see that returning to growth. But on the flip side, that implies Sensor-Guided Technologies had a bit of a more challenging quarter. Can you walk through what drove that and how we should think about, I guess, for both Vascular Closure and Sensor-Guided Technologies, how should we think about the growth outlook for the balance of the year in light of that and the reiterated mid-single-digit growth more broadly?

Yes. I'll work backwards against that, Allen. We reiterated our mid-single growth for MedSurg. Growth in the quarter was at the high end of that range, obviously, at 6%. We're really confident. And candidly, first quarter was the most difficult comp across MedSurg. So we like the momentum. We like where we're going from here. But it's one quarter, and it's our first quarter. And so we want to be appropriately prudent about that in terms of how we think about it. But we fully expect both BMT and IVT to contribute nicely to upside potential there.

Within IVT, it is really a Vascular Closure story. That's the absolute top priority. Within guidewires, we like that business. We're leaning into that business. We'll have more to say about that as the year progresses. We did see a 5% effect on the overall IVT, but we did see a bit of a back sliding on the OEM business. I think it's pretty clear what's going on there. So we'll work to address that as best we can. But I think the real opportunity is to drive that guidewire business into structural heart as a additional contributor. But first, second and third, we'll succeed on Vascular Closure.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Marie Thibault with U.S. Bancorp BTIG.

Great quarter. I wanted to ask one quick one here on Plasma, and then I'll have a follow-up in IVT. In Plasma, you gave us some details of some of the drivers, great to hear. I wanted to understand a little bit more how you're thinking about the timing of the Persona PLUS rollout? I know you're in the midst of negotiations. Is this a potential tailwind for, say, the next 12 months, the next 18 months? What's kind of the timing of some of those conversations? And on the Apheresis guidance increase, I think you described underlying plasma market as -- market growth as modest. I think the prior assumption was 0% to 2% volume growth. Can you just give us an update on the assumed underlying volume there in that guidance?

Great. Thanks, Marie. Yes. In terms of Persona PLUS, I'll put it in context. The Persona offering, PLUS is the second installment of that off the base gain, and it's roughly an additional 5% yield. We're seeing more than that in the market right now, the customers that are part of the early adoption, which is great. There's reasons for that. But this is an ongoing innovation cycle. There will be additional variance on Persona as we go forward. We'll have more to say about that when they're ready for market. But we think this is kind of a classic ongoing stage of rollouts. And we like where we are. We've tried to be prudent in what we put into the forecast, so only what's been contracted, and we have a clear line of sight to the performance.

The powerful thing to keep in mind about Persona PLUS is this is a relatively straightforward software upgrade firmware in our offering. So we could change the centers rapidly. We'll go just as fast as our customers are prepared to go, but we are changing 30 or 40 centers a week without any kind of reluctance there. So we think that's great.

In terms of how that factors in, the outlook for FY '27 is really tied to factors that we can directly control. And that does imply upside to your question, and there's the -- any kind of accelerated adoption on Persona PLUS, new contracts or faster rollout within the existing additional share gains, which can come in the form of us converting competitive centers or our customers taking share from their competitors, both of which have a direct benefit to us.

And then thirdly, on collection volume, we began the year with this 0% to 2% growth. We don't control it. We don't want to be dependent upon something we don't control. What you see in the raised guidance is essentially our first quarter outperformance added to essentially what we put forth for the rest of the year. So we have not changed the collection volume guidance at this point. We're still saying 0% to 2%. It's obviously a lot more robust than that. We don't have any reason to believe that's not going to continue, but we don't want to be beholden to it.

Yes. Very good. Great detail. A quick one on IVT then. You talked about VASCADE MVP XL being a driver there. What are you seeing on the ground from the IDNs, ASCs on that?

And secondly, has there been any impact to the business from some of the reported slowdown that we've seen in the left atrial appendage closure market?

Thank you, Yes, let me correct one thing from my prior answer or just further expand on it. Within IVT, we feel quite good about the sensor-guided technology. That market is performing -- with the exception of the OEM piece, that's performing quite where we need it to be. The challenge, as you guys know, is ensoETM, and we can talk about that. But that's the main drag outside and it's the entire drag outside of closure.

In terms of what we're seeing on the contracting front, I think the label expansion that we received from FDA earlier this fiscal year has really opened the door for us. And that, in combination with the growing body of evidence we called out earlier this week, the 1,600-patient trial that was conducted at Emory using XL and large-bore closure procedures, both left atrial appendage and PFA. And that's really resonating, and it's helped us both in terms of contracting with IDNs where we didn't really have a presence before, as well as this ongoing shift that we think will gain momentum to the ASCs.

If you think about what MVP XL means in that operation area, it's a workflow enhancement that -- with the same-day discharge and the rapid ambulation and the absolute minimal complications and the ability, if need be, to return to an access area that's unblemished from the initial procedure a month later. All those things play very well to the efficiencies and the speed with which ASCs expect to operate. So we're seeing the benefit from that.

In terms of left atrial appendage, it's a really small market for us. We only have 1 to 1.5 access sites per LAAC procedure. So we haven't felt any headwind from the changes there. Probably concomitant therapy where it's being done jointly with PFA is a bigger factor, but that's captured in that 6% to 7% market growth that we're experiencing now.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from David Rescott with Baird.

Congrats on the results here. I wanted to unpack a little bit more on this Plasma result, an impressive Plasma result you put up. I think some of the restated Plasma numbers are different than the prior Plasma numbers that you reported. So curious on what the difference is there? And if we back out this software benefit you had last year, I think it's going to be putting the underlying Plasma growth in that high teens number, which I think is better than what you did in 2026 on an ex-CSL ex-software benefit basis for all of 2026. So curious on what the moving pieces are there? Again, it sounds like North American disposables were above 20%. So maybe there isn't necessarily a kind of 1-ish time benefit from Persona PLUS rollout. But trying to get a sense for, again, what this Persona contribution on a quarterly and go-forward basis is versus that underlying collection or disposable growth would be?

Thanks, David. Let me go back a step. If you go back to our June 5 reclassification, essentially, what we've done is take what was plasma, mainly source plasma and combined it with that portion of the previous blood center segment that is being done on the NexSys device, whether it's being done for a source plasma customer or for one of the blood centers that are increasingly affiliated with fractionation and partnering up with one of our global customers. So that effectively is 80% of the combined two prior segments, leaving the non-plasma Apheresis being that remaining 20%. That guide initially for that portion, the 20% portion, was low-single-digits. The guide for the 80% plasma piece was mid-single-digits.

We're raising that -- and we combine those in a way basically -- excuse me, low -- the plasma piece was mid-single-digit positive. The blood center piece was mid-single-digit negative. When we combine them, we end up with a low-single-digit positive. Today, we raised that guidance to low to mid-single-digits to reflect the collective strength. We did outperform our initial expectations on the non-plasma piece, it's down 3%. So that's favorable and a good trend line for us. A lot of that's order timing and just some things that jump around a bit in the market given it's a smaller piece. The big focus, that 80% that is the overall plasma Apheresis, 80% of that is the North American disposables.

And that's the piece where we really saw this outperformance. We were up mid-20% in the U.S. and then EMEA followed by being up double-digits as well. So across the board, again, we've used the term trifecta, we're seeing share gains. We're seeing strong demand for source plasma, and we're benefiting by price associated with Persona PLUS. That's what combined to get us that overall 80% that we feel really good about.

Okay. That's helpful. Maybe higher level, longer term, I guess, sticking with Plasma. I think we've seen in the past couple of quarters a lot of the collectors still pointing to this mid to high single-digit worldwide growth on the plasma collection front. And some of them are pointing toward expansion of plasma collections in markets or geographies that are outside the U.S. So I wanted to get your thoughts both on, I guess, that longer term U.S.-specific plasma collection view or trajectory as well as if or as there is this shift toward more collections coming from international markets, what at all would be the opportunity in the company's mind to be a part of that broadening collection market?

Thank you, David. The outlook for plasma is and remains very attractive. It's underpinned by exactly what you just highlighted, the durable global demand for Ig, which is driven by growing utilization across multiple indications, including primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, where patients don't have viable alternative therapy.

And on the autoimmune side, the larger opportunities in CIDP and ITP, where Ig remains first-line therapy. And while other therapies will have a role to play, they're not displacing Ig. They're not taking over new patient starts in those large categories. So we feel really good, as do our customers, about the durability that you highlight. We enabling their collections are focused on extending the leadership that we've built through innovation, through customer globalization and standardization and continued share gains. This is the first time at this point, I think, ever, but certainly over the last decade, where the OUS collections in Europe, in particular, now represent 20% of the total collection volume. That's a new dynamic.

Historically, it was a 90-10 split, but the cost of collections come down. Our customers are globalizing. That's enabled us to globalize and essentially all of our contracts now are global in scope. And I think we've really benefited by this growth in Europe and the Middle East as well. And so, as that continues, I think we're exceptionally well positioned to play in that space. So I think our best days are yet to come.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Andrew Cooper with Raymond James.

Maybe just to tag on to that. I mean, like we talked about, we used to talk about a higher level of growth that felt durable in terms of collections. You just had high single or low double-digit in the U.S., but you're sticking with the 0% to 2%. So what do you have to see to get comfortable to thinking about guiding in the way that you used to, which would be with that kind of more durable, more predictable mid-single plus collection growth as the baseline as opposed to something more conservative?

Thanks, Andrew. We're very bullish on the durability and the sustainability. We want our guidance to be appropriately derisked -- and as we've said in the prepared remarks and elsewhere, we see solid demand. We see strong execution, but we're focused on the execution piece of it.

And yes, there's a lot of upside if collection volumes continue to be robust in our forecast, but we're going to take a more prudent path, which is to focus on that which we can control, share gains, Persona PLUS rollout, some additional standardization and growth on -- in the global markets. And we feel really good that that's our baseline. We're in a great position to be able to support whatever upside comes from collection volumes, but we want to get out of the business of trying to predict things that we don't control. So if you are so inclined, use your own number on collection volumes, the number that we've put into the guidance is 0% to 2%.

Okay. No, helpful. And then just a couple of updates maybe on some of the regulatory side and new launches. Where are we in terms of the XL label in Japan, especially given you have some of that great data in hand? And then just an update on PerQseal and some of the process there would be great as well.

I appreciate that there. We're excited. I mean we think about this year in many ways as the year of launch. If I go back a step, heparinase neutralization which is now a global opportunity for us within BMT. XL, to your point, driving the U.S. meaningfully.

We have done the paperwork and kind of had the ongoing dialogue very favorably with Japan. We have anticipated that for later this fiscal year. We don't have direct line of sight to the timing. So we've been pretty conservative in terms of what we put into our forecast, but we do anticipate this year. And we're also looking at PerQseal Elite.

To your point, we're in dialogue with FDA. We've included all the costs associated with that U.S. launch. We haven't included any of the benefit. The anticipation is that we would get that this fiscal year, and that will be upside to our plans going forward.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Michael Petusky with Barrington Research.

I was wondering the operating margin expansion in MedSurg, is there any way to break that out between BMT and IT just in terms of what was majority driving that expansion?

Yes, Mike, it's predominantly BMT. As I mentioned earlier, so Q4 was an unusually strong quarter for BMT. And as the revenue came down for that sequentially, we lost some leverage there. And that drives the lion's share of the sequential margin decline in that business.

Okay. And then just, I guess, in terms of IT and Chris, what you guys -- the response you guys have made over the last 3, 4 quarters in terms of sort of fighting back in Vascular Closure. One of the levers you talked about 2, 3 quarters ago is you were giving your guys a little bit more flexibility on price. I'm just wondering how much that has helped in driving a recovery and if there's been any change in sort of that direction that you guys gave a few quarters ago in terms of flexibility on pricing?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. I -- All three factors that we called out earlier are having a role. We've got a market that is increasingly stabilizing, which means the access site opportunity is accelerating, probably twice what it was last year from 3.5% or so percent to 6% or 7% or better as it further matures. So that's there, and that's clearly helping us. The investments in sales and marketing, these guys are going in -- you remember last -- first quarter of last year, we took a big hit, and we lost a large number of important accounts.

Our team is more than holding their own in terms of winning those back and gaining new share across the board. And I do think giving them some latitude has helped, although this is a team that was purpose-built to do this. There's a lot of intelligence being applied to make sure that when we are pulling the price lever, we're pulling it intelligently for where the opportunity makes sense for us. It helps behind the scenes that our global manufacturing and supply teams have figured out increasingly how to make the product more cost effectively.

So that's definitely weighing in our favor. And it's -- I don't want to discount the value of the clinical work that we've done, the label expansion for sure, but just also a body of evidence that is unique to VASCADE in all its forms in terms of the role it can play in closure. And I think that differentiation is helping us clearly against both of our existing competitors. So again, we'll have more to say about that as the year progresses, but this is a step-wise progression. We expect the momentum to build from here.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Joanne Wuensch with Citi.

This is Anthony on for Joanne. I just want to switch gears to Hemostasis Management that's been quite durable for the past several quarters. I'm curious, I guess, where we sort of are in the rollout of that hepar neutralized cartridge as well as the ongoing upgrade to TEG success? And then if you could maybe provide any pipeline plans for future assays on that capital?

Yes. Thanks for the question, Anthony. Yes, within the -- for BMT, that probably doesn't get the mind share it deserves in terms of its contribution. If you go back over the last 5 years, TEG itself has grown on average compound annual growth rate of 15%, 1-5, and we have every expectation that, that favorable runway is going to continue and build momentum throughout this fiscal year. And a bunch of that now is increasingly around utilization.

The split on revenue for the product is 85-15 disposables versus capital. That may even increase over the course of this year because of the success globally of the heparinase neutralization cartridge. The upgrade cycle from TEG 5000, we're in the final stages of that at this point. The teams really leaned in and accelerated that. That's great. But I think I called this out on last quarter's call, the revenue return per device with the 6s are 2x what they were previously or with the TEG 5000. That's a utilization story.

That said, we're looking at a $400 million TAM, plus or minus globally. That's roughly 60% penetrated. We have 80% share of the market, and we feel great about that. But the opportunity from where we sit is to drive additional utilization. And that means we've got to do some additional work on subsequent indications, some of the global footprint, et cetera. So there's meaningful upside. We have to do the work to get there. But this is a team that's managed to exceed expectations at every time. I have no doubt they'll do so from where we sit.

Okay. That's helpful. And then free cash flow expanded really nicely year-over-year. It seems like a lot of that's driven by working capital improvement. But maybe just love to hear more of the work you're doing there? And then I know PerQseal has just tucked in, but any updated views on M&A and other adjacent markets that you could be interested in?

Yes, I'll start on free cash flow, glad you asked. It's a great story. Our operating cash flow was $52 million in Q1. That's 3x last year, and our conversion for the quarter was 75%, which is strong given Q1 is typically our weakest cash quarter seasonally. And when you look at the trailing 12 months, which is really the right way to do this, the quarterly fluctuations could come and go, but that's 106% on a trailing 12-month basis. And you're right. So if you're just looking at Q1 and you look at our cash flow statement, you'll see that there's a fairly large source of cash year-over-year in -- it's mostly related to accrued liabilities and payables, and we had some favorable timing there.

Now we're reaffirming our 80% free cash flow conversion for the year. And I believe that, that should give us plenty of room to keep funding growth and paying down debt and so forth as we move throughout the year.

And Anthony, it's Chris. Just regarding capital allocation and how we think about that. To James's point, we've really leaned in, the three metrics we run to, haven't changed, revenue growth, margin expansion and free cash flow. So that won't change. The outperformance we're having on cash flow is definitely strengthening the balance sheet and creating some optionality for us. Within that, our capital allocation goals haven't changed. We're looking to create the greatest long-term shareholder value we can. And at this point, the focus is organic.

I mentioned the launches, hepa neutralization, MVP XL, Persona PLUS. There will be several more with any luck here in the second part of the year. So stay tuned for that. That's a focus. We have done the share buybacks, $100 million last year. We still have an authorization for the remaining $325 million. And as James called out, we paid down some debt in the quarter and again, subsequent to the quarter, $100 million in total.

So I think you're going to see us more in terms of organic growth at the absolute top priority and then cleaning up the balance sheet and addressing where we can opportunistically a chance to return value to shareholders vis-a-vis the buybacks. And in the absence of that, we'll take care of some of the debt structure. But I'm not saying never, but M&A is off the table for now. Our focus is solid execution against the existing demand we have in our core products today.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Travis Steed with BofA.

Congrats on a good quarter. I wanted to ask on the new Board member, Martin, that you added, and how you're thinking about just like bigger picture, creating strategic value for shareholders and value for shareholders? And is Martin coming on the Board part of that value shareholder creation that you're thinking about over the next kind of 12 months or so?

Yes. we think any time we add a Board member, we're looking at the total skill set, how that fits with the existing capabilities and competency of the Board. Martin brings a lot in that regard, and it's not just this year. It's what I hope will be over the next decade of his contributions. He's a really talented guy. He's got a track record of creating shareholder value pretty much everywhere he has been.

Some of that's just real thoughtfulness around strategy, corporate strategy, understanding markets and how they move and how to compete within them. A lot of it is about execution and stabilizing and consistent delivery, which, of course, is a criticality. When we set out in the market, we were looking for real experience based -- prior CEO, prior CFO, type of skill sets to really muscle build what is a very high-performing Board. And I think Martin is going to be a great fit in that regard.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Mike Matson with Needham & Company.

This is Joseph on for Mike. I'm just wondering if you guys have any commentary or color on hospital capital equipment budgets? I think going into the quarter, there was maybe some worry or some hesitancy and maybe haven't been seeing that from medtech peers. So curious what you guys are seeing there, I guess, specifically with TEG placements, but maybe even broader, if you have any more color on that?

Yes, Joseph, thanks for the question. We have not seen any pressures there. I know there's a lot of concern about it. It doesn't affect the IVT business. There's no underlying capital requirements there. There's some monitors and whatnot for the guidewire piece, but that's part of the broader sale. So it's not a factor.

With regards to TEG, as I said, it's an 85-15 split between disposables and capital. There's probably more capital placed outside the U.S. this year, but that's just part of our share capture and utilization. We do see folks adding the additional analyzer or 2 or 3. The good news about -- and this is true across all of our products, but there's a very strong use case for TEG and viscoelastic testing that for any tight-fisted hospital procurement team who's willing to look at the value add, there's tremendous value add.

One of that -- a system adopts TEG, they get better clinical outcomes, which is the first priority, but they also tend to lower their consumption of blood products because they use the right product in the right way and not otherwise. So the aggregate -- blood is a top 3 expenditure for every hospital in the world, by helping conserve and do practice better blood management techniques, wind up lowering the aggregate cost. That's a big part of it. I think the other big part of it is we're still below $50,000 on an analyzer. It just doesn't hit anybody's thresholds. We've seen no headwinds there.

Okay. Super clear. And then maybe just two follow-ups on some previous questions. Just, I guess, maybe on cash flow, the strength in the quarter and just given that it's usually the seasonally weakest, I'm just wondering if it maybe changes the pace or the size of share buybacks under the current authorization?

And then just on Persona PLUS, I'm not sure if you said it, but I was wondering if you could maybe just chart out where you guys are in the adoption curve with the current Plasma customer base? And then that's it from us. Really appreciate it, and congrats on a strong quarter.

Yes. Thanks for the question. Let me address the cash flow piece. So just as a reminder, we already purchased 3 million shares over the prior 18 months or so. So having executed well on that, it felt like the right moment to turn some attention to the balance sheet, especially with money market yields normalizing and our borrowing costs staying elevated. So what you see in the quarter was that, and as I mentioned, we paid down $50 million on the revolver during Q1.

And then right after Q1, we paid down another $50 million on the revolver. So we prioritized debt paydown right now. We still have $200 million left on the revolver, and we'll balance that with the -- with share buybacks. But as I mentioned earlier, the good news is that because we have such strong cash flow, we have plenty of room really to do as we choose, whether it's funding growth, paying down debt or returning capital to shareholders. And we intend to do all of that in a balanced way.

And then just in terms of your question regarding Persona PLUS, as I said, we're excited. We're ahead of schedule and expect that to continue. The response has been outstanding. Customers are getting higher-than-expected, plus 5% off of the base Persona yields they already attained, and we'll continue to lean into that. As I said, we can move fast. There's -- it's a firmware upgrade. Everything else is already -- we laid the foundation for this when we did the original Persona upgrades.

So conceptually and without much to do, we can convert the entire U.S. market this year. So that's not what's in our guidance. What's in our guidance is where we have existing contracts and a committed time line to roll out. But I think this one has the potential to snowball and build momentum as it goes. It's a really good innovation for the market. So stay tuned.

And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. And as such, this does conclude today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

Good afternoon, everyone. Pleased to welcome you to our last session of day 1 of the conference. Very pleased to welcome Chris Simon, President and CEO of Haemonetics. Thank you again for making the trip to Miami. We were catching up before this. It's been a long time. Since I started, you were here last year, but obviously, we go back much further than that in terms of the evolution of the company.

So maybe just you're kind of -- you've completed an LRP. You just set out fiscal year guidance. Just like where are you in kind of this transformation of Haemonetics?

Thanks, and thanks for having us at the conference. Delighted to be here. And another chance to tell our story. So yes, you talked about the LRP. That was a 4-year plan that wrapped up about 3 months ago. And if I reflect on that, we were coming out of COVID, we were managing the transition of a large customer. It was a challenging environment to say the least.

We went out with what we thought was bold aspirational goals, and I'm pleased to say for the team that we achieved almost all of them. We thought we would grow high single digits. We actually grew 10%. We said we would grow mid-teens on our earnings. We actually grew mid-20s and felt good about that. We had this very powerful combination of free cash flow in excess of $650 million and then the margin expansion where we fell a notch short.

We were at 18% operating income margin when we started. We said we'd get to the high 20%. We actually got to 25% and change. So 700 basis points, 770 to be exact, but not quite where we had thought to go. We would argue and the guidance is something I'm sure we're going to talk a bunch about. But the vast majority of the things we did over that 4-year period, portfolio evolution, capability building within the organization, streamlining our operations, investing in a major ERP program. The vast majority of those are sustainable and bode well for where we go from here.

Excellent. Well, you're right. I do want to dive into the guidance here for '27, the 3% to 6% organic growth that you set forth, obviously, coming in below where you were over the LRP time frame, understanding that there are some specific factors specific to 2027. Maybe just talk to us a little bit about the guidance framing and the considerations that went into setting the outlook?

Yes. Again, delivery against bold aspirational goals, unfortunately, due to a series of idiosyncrasies, most of which were actually beyond our control, institutional investors have abandoned the position and the sector, and our multiple has compressed now to historic lows. And so I don't want to be ignorant of that reality. We trade like a low to mid-single-digit grower. And under the circumstances, thought it was best to be highly prudent and keep our guidance conservative and things we directly control.

We're driving share gains across our businesses. We'll factor those in. We're executing on innovation that we know is valued as such in the market where we have a price premium. So when it's already contracted and we have hard deadlines, we're going to account for that. And a very modest level of growth in collection and procedure rates, but all that's against a backdrop that I think more so than any time in my 10-year time with the company, we're a show-me story, and it's about execution and rebuilding momentum with a goal of returning to a pattern of underpromising and overdelivering, and that's what you see in our guide.

Looks good. Let's talk about that a little more. I mean I think the -- one of the things that as we look at company guidance, we started using kind of as like a benchmark is like what do you have to believe takes place operationally to hit these numbers. So if you did that exercise for Haemonetics, like what are the things in your markets that have to be true? Or what are some of the operating considerations that need to play out to hit the 3% to 6%?

Yes. Well, we break down our businesses. This is an interesting one, right, because I've heard from investors, you guys have become very complex. That's not true. We're very straightforward. We are 3 products, NexSys, TEG and VASCADE. They make up more than 80% of our total revenue, the vast majority of which comes from here in the U.S. products all manufactured here in North America. I think it's a pretty straightforward story.

Now when I decompose those to get to your question, for NexSys, it's always been about 3 things. There's the market share gain or loss. There's what we command a price premium or contraction for competitive pressures and then ultimately, collection volumes. We have line of sight to ongoing share capture. What we've put into the plan is the annualization of what we already did last year that's yet to annualize where we go with pricing, we had a lot of pricing benefit last year from Persona.

This year, it's going to be about the rollout of Persona Plus, our latest technology. What's in the plan is where we have a contract and an agreed time line. There'll be further upside to that. That would be upside to the plan. And on collection volumes, we're doing exactly what we did last year, we're saying essentially, it's 0% to 2%. And that's not a number we'll talk about. But from our vantage point, we feel quite good about the underlying health and vitality of that business.

But those are the 3 things that drive plasma. There's a separate set of things that drive Interventional Technologies and the broader blood management TEG business. Again, no procedure volume, share gain, price is the basic story. And then we're putting in a modest degree, 50 to 100 basis points of margin expansion, operating income margin expansion. There will be some gross margin, but probably more so than you've seen in the past that will be operating leverage as we scale those MedSurg businesses.

And as you think -- and I want to talk a little bit about the sector because you brought it up, but maybe just sticking on the guidance for a second here. Within that range of 3% to 6% or even thinking outside of those bands, what are the factors that would need to materialize to see the number be 6 or better? Or what are the things that would need to take place to be 3 or lower?

Yes. So I think -- again, if I'm breaking down plasma, I'd say a more rapid uptick in Persona Plus, we know it's superior technology. The other companies can't match us. Our customers are very excited about the prospects. It will add roughly another 5% yield on top of the Persona adoption. And that will be a more balanced yield just given the way the algorithms work for a number of our customers who have a different mix of demographics in their donor base. They'll all see that meaningful mid-single-digit growth. That's positive. If that happens faster in this environment, that will be upside to us.

Ongoing share gains, I think that defines us in plasma. So -- but we've been conservative, and we want to make sure there's hard and fast commitments. And then on the collection volume, we grew -- collection volumes grew 9% last year. We don't see that falling off a cliff. We think the end market demand for plasma is as robust as it's ever been and our position within that is better than it's ever been. But we don't control it. And because we don't control it, it's candidly, it's a non-guide guide. It would be wrong if we said it was 0, so you get 0 to 2%, pick your number.

What I can tell you is what we've done as a company over the last decade, we're going to grow 200 to 300 basis points above market growth on the things that we control. If plasma collection volumes look like they did last year, then that would be significant outperformance. On blood management technologies, it's the ongoing conversions, it's the share capture, and it's just driving utilization. It doesn't get talked about enough. Hopefully, we'll spend time on it today. TEG has grown 15% per annum for the last 5 years. It's not always linear, but it's always been double digit and sometimes go up into the high teens.

So we think TEG in its own right in MedSurg defines durable growth, and we're looking forward to surprising positively on Interventional Technologies given the investments we've already made to get that business back on its foot.

Unfortunately, I think you announced a re-segmentation in the past after I prepared my question. So -- but we can -- I want to talk about that a little bit. But before we dive into that, maybe just zoom back out to the sector. And one of the things I think that's also a conversation around MedTech is just the overall health of volume. And you listen to managed care companies and you think like no one is going to the doctor. Then you listen to hospitals and Q1 was a little wobbly, but it's just the fault of weather and seasonality.

Then we get Medtronic last week, and they sounded pretty good. And you had the benefit of you reported, obviously, your quarter ends in March, but you had seen some additional data points in April and a lot of May when you reported. Maybe like what are you seeing? Like how are you kind of putting all this feedback together? What's your perspective on the latest kind of volume outlook?

Yes. We want to pay really close attention to this. There's obviously large macro forces that can disrupt things. Candidly, we don't see any of it. We see very healthy volumes. If you look at TEG as an example, TEG is general cardiology, it's cardiac surgery. It can be used in interventional cardiology as well. It's big in transplant and it's big in trauma. And they're all categories where the growth remains really robust. And so we overlay driving greater utilization and a meaningful uptick outside the U.S. and Europe and Japan, where we've been running hard at those targets.

Yes, we don't -- we're not handwringing about the underlying procedure volumes derailing our growth opportunity. When we look at interventional technology, both electrophysiology, structural heart, again, healthy markets. I think it gets obscured because there's meaningful share shift going on. So depending on who you talk to, if they're on the receiving end of that, perhaps they look and feel a bit different. From us, the underlying strategy of enabling technologies, we're agnostic as to who's therapeutic you're using. What we care about is the access site holes that need to be closed and can you use the best available.

Now there is real science behind what's the total available access sites. So people get confused because they see mid-teens growth in AFib. The reality is, last year, we think the access site growth for AFib was in the low single digits, probably 3.5% overall. That same number this year should be between 6% and 7%. I'm happy to walk through that. But basically, as they adopt the more advanced PFA technology, we're losing typically one access site per procedure. Same is true for concomitant therapy if they're doing AFib and left atrial appendage simultaneously.

But the good news, the silver lining here is that adoption rate has progressed so far so fast that the market is stabilizing. And that stability is a great backdrop for us to resume above-market growth. The base market, like I said, 6% to 7%. Eventually, we get on the other side of this, and that could be as early as the latter part of this year, our growth rate and number of access sites will return to whatever the procedural growth rate is.

So we're looking forward to that return to double-digit growth. In the meantime, we're going to get it done with share capture.

Great. I do want to talk about TEG and go into some of the specific products. But maybe you just talk about the reporting changes that you announced and what was sort of the genesis behind it and what you're sort of intending to communicate to investors with the new view of the company?

The change is largely aimed to align our external reporting with how we're already managing the business internally. When we look at plasma and blood center, plasma sourced plasma, that's a key opportunity. It's globalized quite dramatically. The outside the U.S. growth is now outpacing the U.S. growth. And a lot of that is coming from what traditionally were blood center customers aligning with our sourced plasma customers. It's all being done on a NexSys device.

So by reconfiguring and retitling to apheresis, you're going to see 80%, 90%, et cetera, concentration on the plasma apheresis. And then we have the other, which is not an area that's getting a lot of capital or we'll continue to break it out. We're not looking to take away any information. But -- and then the hospital side, we're just trying to align with the terminology that more accurately defines our products and the segments they compete in.

Importantly, I think we tried to be really clear about this on Friday with the announcement. This is a reporting change. It's not a change in strategy or outlook. We have not updated our guidance. The guidance we issued back in May is the guidance for the year until we have an opportunity to upgrade it as the year progresses. But for now, everything stays intact. I guess there's probably one more possible rationale that is further down the road. But if you think about -- we think there's an opportunity to further clarify the intrinsic value of each part of the business.

And today, we know we trade at a significant read that as massive discount to the current sum of the parts. If by being clearer about the individual parts helps to begin to help investors quantify that discount so much better.

And I appreciate that there's always 2 pieces to getting value, quantifying the discount and all of us can do that spreadsheet math. Then there's realizing that gap is something strategic and operational. So are you actively having those conversations at the Board level about breaking up the company? Or is that more of a valuation point that you're trying to make?

Our first, second and third point is we're focused on execution to drive valuation, long-term shareholder returns period full stop. I think there's been enough noise in the system. As I said, the idiosyncrasies, I think about us and the overhang that really dominated, unfortunately, diminished really strong performance in FY '26. The first was $153 million of nonrecurring plasma blood center revenue, which we've talked extensively about. But there was also the IVT disruption, which was in one part, PFA. It was one part, the OEM sensor-guided business that we acquired that had a disruption from J&J and Abiomed.

There's obviously the dislocation of the cooling market. And candidly, on the cash flow side, we had real things we needed to do to build devices to get the share gains we've now gotten in plasma, we built a new manufacturing facility, state-of-the-art operations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to deliver against all this opportunity. And we rebuilt our inventories after a massive depletion. All those things diminished.

But if I look at that, whether it's plasma blood, whether it's the recovery in Interventional Technologies or a return to really robust cash flow, that overhang is behind us now. And so we've got to execute, and we got to execute across 100% of the business, not 85%. We know that. Sitting here this time next year when we sit down, if we're still trading at 10x to 12x forward PE, then we'll have a different conversation because the company is just worth significantly more than that period full stop.

Maybe just -- now you've sort of opened the -- so keep going. Look, PE has been increasingly active in MedTech. We started to say we've been hearing about it for better part of 1.5 years. And I think in one of the public sessions here last year, our bankers talked about private equity interest in MedTech. Are you seeing inbound interest for the company? Or are you still talking more of the theoretical valuation level?

I think the practical reality is anybody that lives at the intersection of MedTech and small, mid, if you're not having these conversations, there's probably something wrong, right, just in terms of valuation. And our obligation as fiduciaries to deliver value. From our vantage point, we think the most important thing to drive value is the execution against the existing business, right? Get back on the path of exceeding expectations, delivering consistency, making sure the durable growth of this business and the outstanding free cash flow generation and conversion ratio becomes apparent. We do that, I think intelligent investors, public or private will find their way to our doorstep. And at the end of the day, that's our obligation.

And are you guys buying back stock?

We bought back stock meaningfully over the course of the past year. It's a second capital allocation priority behind the organic investment that we're making clinically and commercially in the business. We think the ROIC on that first year investments have been really attractive. A second priority is the buyback, right? We feel quite good about our balance sheet and where we are. We'll pay down debt opportunistically. But for now, yes, the buybacks, and we have just over $300 million, about $325 million remaining on a prior authorization. Opportunities present themselves, we'll buy back. We understand the cost of our equity and the cost of our debt.

Excellent. That's a good segue as you kind of continue to reframe execution to dive into the businesses. So maybe why don't we start you pick. Where do you want to start from a business perspective? What do you want to highlight to people and then we'll go through the key franchises?

Let's touch on plasma, but make sure we spend enough time to go through MedSurg both parts of it.

Okay. Great. So plasma, I mean, I had always thought about this market is like high single-digit growth in terms of end-user demand. I mean collections should follow that in volumes probably lead that a little bit if companies want to build inventory. Is that -- and you have -- how do we square that with the 0% to 2% number?

Yes. So again, 0% to 2% is as close as we can get to a non-guide guide without pulling back on any transparency at all, right? So when we look at the underlying demand for this market, it all traces back to what is the underlying demand for IG, right? And so we look carefully at the end markets. There's lots of folks more learned and more knowledgeable about this than us, but we look at the 55% of the IG pharmaceutical market that's primary and secondary immune deficiency. That growth rate continues unabated tragically in part because of cancer therapy and reactions there.

On the autoimmune side, obviously, there's been new entrants. That's a good thing. It's a good thing for the category. It's a good thing for patients. There's very little to no evidence that the alternative therapies are picking up significant volume of new patient starts outside of the ultra-rare orphan diseases like myasthenia gravis. In the big categories, ITP, CIDP, IG remains first-line therapy. When someone's non-IG responsive or not responsive enough, you see the adjunct therapy. It's a good thing for patients, but it's not coming at the expense of demand.

Now there's different numbers out there. Pick your favorite number. We tend from a long-term planning perspective, we tend to look at 5% to 7% growth in demand for IG. Then we overlay what should we reasonably deliver? And that's my point earlier, about 200 to 300 basis points on top of that, either through share gains or incremental pricing against superior technology.

There will be some uptick with regards to a move to subcutaneous, which requires more plasma, but there's also yield enhancements, ours and others that is coming from the fractionation side. So that largely nets out. But take that 5% to 7% as we see it, add a couple of hundred basis points. That's how we've delivered what we've delivered essentially for the last decade.

Okay. That's helpful perspective. And I want to go on to MedSurg, but maybe just last one. Does plasma collection service sort of a hedge in a scenario where there is macroeconomic weakness? I always thought about collections countercyclical, unemployment goes up, collections go up. Is that a reasonable consideration?

I think it's very reasonable. I'll just answer it in the here and the now. This is as good a collections environment as I've seen over the last decade, right? I think it's a very different economy for your typical donor than it is maybe for some other folks gathered here today. And so in that regard, our collectors are able to collect all the plasma they want at very favorable prices. Obviously, our yield enhancement, our speed enhancement, our software support and what we can do to really drive donor loyalty helps the cause a great deal. But I think this is as good an environment as we've seen.

Excellent. Maybe not, but helpful perspective. Why don't we switch over to MedSurg? Feel free to -- why don't you take us through kind of what you're excited about? You talked a little bit about the dynamics with VASCADE and this WATCHMAN interplay. That sounds like that will cycle through pretty clearly. But maybe you want to start with TEG maybe and then go from there.

Yes. So TEG is on the run. As I said, it's grown 15% on average over the last 5 years. That's a variety of factors. We've added new indications, the most recent of which was heparinase neutralization, global neutralization cartridge. And that's really opened up the aperture for us to be able to move our existing TEG 5000 business, which is a lab-directed product that has a much broader swath of indications because we can now match it and the 6s capability, functionality is comparable.

We're moving it more into a site of care. And it's a new device. We get the device sales. We like that profile a lot. These are devices that we sell that are attractive returns. We have a whole package of software around TEG Manager that's helping drive heuristics and treatment protocols. But the other thing that's coming out of this and the ultimate metric that we run to is we're seeing literally 2x the revenue per device on the 6s than we were even 3 years ago, which tells me we're making meaningful inroads in utilization.

And I get asked all the time, is this thing sustainable? This was a $100 million product 5 years ago at $200 million plus, it is absolutely sustainable. We think it defines durable growth in MedSurg. And the big part of that is nearly half the market still doesn't use viscoelastic testing or use it at scale. And so that's the opportunity in Europe, which tend to be do viscoelastic testing readout helps avoid harm in terms of the underlying treatments. So yes, we think TEG's best days are ahead of it.

Excellent. Maybe we go on to the interventional business in the interest of time. And we've talked a little bit about the EP side. Maybe talk through structural heart and how you -- as EP goes through this transition and that negatively impacts a number of access sites. Help us understand the other growth drivers in the business that can supplement that share gains?

It's a critical question, right? When we look at IVT, we went in the wrong direction. We contracted 9% last year. An important distinction is 80% of that contraction was a combination of EnsoETM, the cooling device, radio frequency ablations and the OEM portion of our sensor-guided technology. So for Enso, we thought we were entering a category that would hold 25% to 35%. We got that wrong, and that's a mistake. And if I could take it back, it's $160 million that we put out there for that asset and the market is just really challenged. We're doing what we can do, but it's a challenged market to be sure. That was -- of the $16 million contraction, that was 2/3 of it right there. The good news, to the extent there's good news here is it's currently -- we exited the year, we did like roughly $2 million in the fourth quarter on Enso on a print of $346 million. It's at a point where it just can't right?

The other part of it was the OEM sensor guided business. We acquired that business shortly thereafter J&J acquired Abiomed, and they did 2 things. They leveled up the production. We have a contract that requires them to buy at least 50% that leveling, coupled with they had over a year's inventory on hand, they wanted to take it down to a much smaller level. Fortunately, both of those effects have now annualized.

So at this point, we should grow certainly with the category or above. There's obviously questions around that, but we feel quite good about our ability to bring that business back to above-market growth.

And how about Vivasure?

So Vivasure, we had taken an option in that company several years back. What we think is really critical is the landscape for large bore closure is just really underdeveloped. We look at that as roughly a $300 million addressable market, predominantly for TAVR and EVAR. And what we have is a product that's just meaningfully differentiated. It's sutureless. It's fully bio-absorbable and it can handle up to that 26 French OD and nothing is left behind in the vessel.

So when you look at it clinically, leveraging the patch trial data, for example, immediate median hemostasis an ability to very strong safety outcomes, clearly superior to anything on the market. And it's a straightforward, easy procedure to use, the patch with the clip technology. And unfortunately, if you need to go back in 30 days later on a redo, you can go anywhere along the vessel because the patch is fully bioabsorbable and the patient is fully recovered. So we think it's a market that we should do well. It is closure. And it's one of the 3 things you should expect from us in FY '27 to demonstrate we're back on our front foot.

Okay. Excellent. Maybe I want to make sure we can talk about margins a little bit and cash flow. But before we go, try to wrap this all together, as we think about the 3% to 6% guidance that you're laying out and kind of start on the MedSurg side, within the EP exposed segment, there are some market dynamics that you're managing through that I think everyone is very well aware of now with the impact concomitant is having on stand-alone WATCHMAN procedures, the impact that PFA is having in advanced PFA technologies that are all in one mapping and ablation that are having on access sites.

That's going to cycle through, but that you don't have a ton of control over how the market evolves or you can control your market share, but how quickly we move to stability and concomitant procedures or how market share plays out in EP is still -- they're fighting that out. There is the TEG side, continue to see great upgrade momentum with TEG 6s and really strong growth there, opportunity to do well with the TAVR and EVAR opportunity on Vivasure.

And then we go over to the plasma side, it's like, okay, the market is good, but we're just going to take a super conservative approach and the levers to the upside in the guidance really sit with plasma, maybe in a scenario where the PFA dynamics play out faster or stabilize at a lower rate than people expect, that could be upside as well. Is that a fair way to characterize it?

There's clearly upside in the apheresis business along the lines you described. I think even with the historical blood center business, we're not giving up on that business by any stretch. That's been a consistent outperformer. We've guided to negative mid-single digits there. We obviously did better than that last year. We would aspire to do better than that this year.

So the apheresis piece, I think, exactly as you described it and then some. We're equally bullish on MedSurg. And we guided to mid-single-digit growth. We would -- I just kept on saying vascular closure is the biggest opportunity within IVT. We think the market growth rate is going to be roughly 6.5%. If we don't return to above-market growth, we would be pretty -- we would be concerned about that. So we see upside in Vascular Closure. I talked about the Guidewire business we're dependent upon FDA. We put cost in for the Vivasure product launch PerQseal Elite and don't have any revenue. That's just our convention and a way to be prudent.

But we get that approval in FY '27, we're going to come out of the gates in a really purposeful stepwise function. We want to play for the long term, but make no mistakes, we're going to have guns blazing, and we're going to be successful with that product. So there's upside there for sure. And then just delivered what they delivered for the year and for the last 5 years. We don't see them slowing down anytime soon, but we don't control all the vagaries of the markets and the type of things that you and I are talking about here. So let's be conservative and give ourselves room to outperform.

Excellent. And maybe sort of toggling over to the margin side. I mean you just went through a period of pretty significant margin expansion, as you laid out, 700 basis points over roughly, I think, a 4-year period. As you talked about 50 to 100 basis points this year, how much of that influenced just by the level of top line growth? Is it some level of minimum top line growth you need to achieve operating leverage? And how much of this is just kind of maybe a hangover from the sort of significant amount of margin expansion you realized in the trailing period?

Yes. So by far, the last 4 years have been driven by gross margin expansion. We've held it together and beat back tariffs and inflation and geopolitical disruption and cost to make sure that, that drops through proportionately. We have not achieved the operating leverage that we had aimed for initially. I'll come back to that because I do think that's going to begin to manifest pretty materially this year. When we look at it, though, gross margin is not done. Sure, volumes matter, mix matters. Both of them are trending favorably for us and should continue to do so.

We put high marks on ourselves to continue to push price on value innovation. And then core productivity, which a lot of our productivity has gone to offsetting these headwinds, but we come out the other side of that, and we've been very conservative in terms of how we thought about the cost of tariffs and inflation in our current plan. We catch a break there or we get further ahead of our own cycle, we'll be back on the train to drive productivity in ways that it covers not just inflation and merit, but the broader cost.

So there's more to do on the gross margin. I think what's going to be new to the story, as you heard James talk about it, is our operating leverage, and that's just a scale play within hospital because we've already made the investments, both for blood management technologies and interventional technologies. We have what we need to succeed. We now need to leverage it.

Excellent. Well, we have just about a minute left here. Maybe I'll turn it back to you just to -- as you kind of think about just an earnings call, you're meeting with investors today, this obviously had our discussion here. What do you want people to walk out of the room with as like the key take-home message?

Yes. I hope they -- I use the phrase at the risk of being philosophical about it, but the fog is clearing and it's going to reveal forest for the trees. And the fog is that overhang that I kicked off earlier, the 153 and the IVT. What it's going to reveal is durable growth where you have this apheresis business that's just an engine of mid-single-digit growth or better and the associated EBITDA and free cash flow, which strengthens the balance sheet and gives us real optionality.

Flip over on the other side, and I think we'll replicate the playbook that we've gotten very right in BMT as we execute in IVT and now you start seeing operating leverage and a much higher potential, not just for durable growth, but outsized growth. And so that's what we're playing for. We understand where we sit in the market. We're a show-me story. We're going to underpromise and overdeliver and continue to do so until we're on the other side of this.

Excellent. That's a great place to wrap up, Chris, and really appreciate you coming to the conference again this year and giving us this update. We look forward to the next update in August, if not something transpiring before then.

Great. Thanks for your time.

Thanks, Chris.

[indiscernible] Haemonetics. So we welcome Chris Simon, CEO. Thanks for joining us today.

Travis, thanks for having us. Great conference. We're delighted to be a part of it.

Awesome. Maybe I'll start out higher level. Just kind of finished your last LRP. You set a new guide. Just where do you kind of see yourself kind of at this stage in the life cycle of Haemonetics?

Yes, it's been a journey over the past 4 years. I think at the time, 4 years ago, when we issued that LRP, we had just survived COVID, and we knew that CSL was transitioning. And I think we wanted to go out with a bold and audacious plan that gave investors confidence that there was life afterwards. And so we put forth a set of metrics. And I think at the time, the reaction we got from buy side and sell side alike was like why could you lean that hard into it? Nobody does that period, let alone in an environment like this and transitioning what turned out to be $150 million of revenue.

But sitting here today, I'm really proud of this team. Our goals were very clear. We achieved double-digit revenue growth ex CSL. We were high teens on our EPS and earnings growth. We added 660 basis points of margin to our operating income margin from the high teens into the mid-20s, and we generated nearly $700 million of free cash flow along the way. So I think very clearly, what we've built is a much more solid foundation of durable growth that we can build on from here. So we're actually really excited about what comes next.

Great. Sounds good. And how do you think about the longer-term portfolio of the company? We saw the acquisition of Vivasure. Do you continue to add to the hospital? And one question I get a lot is, does it make sense to have the 2 businesses together and some of the synergies there?

Sure, we like plasma. We are the only dedicated plasma play. We're the undisputed industry leader. We continue to invest aggressively behind that to deliver unrivaled growth and profitability. But there are limitations to what that business can deliver. So when we set that LRP, we made a conscious effort to diversify sustainably, and now hospital is our largest business.

I do get that, and I get the -- well, you guys have become very complex. I don't think we're complex at all. We're about 3 products: NexSys, TEG and VASCADE. Those 3 products are all made in North America. They're all sold primarily here in the U.S., which is 85% of our revenue. We're about as straightforward as it gets. If you want to know how Haemonetics is doing, check in on those 3 products, and you'll see the durable growth.

Makes sense. Maybe just on plasma, in particular, just think about the market dynamics in the plasma market, you got -- sometimes people think of it as a cyclical business, right? And kind of where are we in that cyclical part of that market? And you've had a few good quarters in plasma. And so I just kind of how durable is that when you think about the overall market?

Yes, over that LRP period, it's been anything but linear. We had this massive recovery, 40-plus percent growth the first year, 20% the second. And then it stabilizes at some point. Last year, we went out with guidance that said the collection volume would grow at 0% to 2% and wound up growing double digits for the year. So it's difficult to predict.

I do think people confuse that, though, with the end market demand for IG-based therapy, which remains unabated, right? And we get into this whole debate about anti-FcRn and Ig. I'm happy to go deeper on it, but we see no obstacles to the ongoing growth in demand for IG, which is the absolute core of what drives collection volumes.

Okay. When there was some news recently on one of the CSL, which obviously is not your customer, but they were talking about inventory destocking. And so the question I've gotten is, is that a customer-specific thing? Or is it a market thing that we should actually pay attention to?

Yes. So we pay attention to what all of our customers. CSL is a customer, an important customer, and we value the relationship greatly. We have 100% of their volume in Europe. And we announced at this time last year that we entered into a new long term, read that as 7 years-plus agreement to support all their U.S. centers with our integrated software. So they're an important customer. We listen to those announcements.

I think what gets missed here is that there's a lot of competitive head-to-head across the industry. One customer is taking share and others giving share. Some are more committed to the U.S. market, some are more committed to the international markets, and you see that up and down accordingly. Our guidance of 0% to 2% is just us being prudent because we don't control it. But in aggregate, I'd be surprised and disappointed if the trends that we experienced this year don't continue at some level into FY '27.

In Q4, Plasma was 13% ex CSL. You talk about kind of the components there between pricing, share gains and kind of market collections growth and trying to think how much kind of potential upside there could be in '27?

Yes, super proud of what the team accomplished in our FY '26, which just wrapped up at the end of March. The drivers were threefold. We call it the perfect trifecta here. We took share, hand over fist. We took share in the marketplace in terms of collection volume growth, both here in the U.S. but also disproportionately internationally, where the growth was even higher.

We had the benefit of innovation-based pricing from the final leg of our Persona rollout. That's a 10% yield enhancement we gave the industry. And then on top of that, you saw the collection volume growth, which was double digit throughout the year in Europe and then in the second half of the year became double digit here in the U.S. as well. So that's a trifecta. You can't reasonably expect that all 3 of those things are going to deliver at that level year in and year out. But the things that we control within it will lean into, and we expect continued success there.

You alluded to rolling out Persona Plus could be a headwind to the collection volumes as centers collect 5% more with each visit. Is that baked into the 0% to 2% collection volume expectation?

Yes, the round numbers, right? When we rolled Persona, it was roughly a 10% improvement off of what we had already done with the industry's yield enhancement. Persona Plus is half that again. These are -- I'm just rounding, right? And each experience will be different.

We saw 2 very different waves. The initial wave of Persona, the collectors took the 10%, added it to their existing plans, which were roughly 10% and grew 20% in the year, and we're delighted to be able to do so with our help. Later in the wave -- second wave was really more of a modulated where the companies needed to tamp down their cost per liter. So they pulled back on new center openings, took the 10% we gave them and met their plan that way. It remains to be seen what Persona Plus looks like.

Our guidance is derisked with regards to the 0% to 2%. And I think what gets lost in all of this is the extensive margin expansion. And again, bragging on that team, but when I joined the company, our gross margins were in the low 40s, and plasma was right there in the thick of it, 43%. Today, that plasma business is operating in the mid-50s or better, and Persona Plus will be a further expansion on top of that. So we'd like to see volume and margin, but we win either way.

You talked about annualization of some share gains as the biggest driver of kind of the mid-single-digit growth in plasma in '27. Can you help us contextualize some of the share gains a bit more? It sounds like some of the customers like Grifols are winning more business. Is that flowing into you?

Yes. Clearly, when our customers do better, we do better. I want to talk about individual share because it's obviously tightly contested across the major players. What I think is interesting, if I go back again to the LRP, historically, we had 70% share of the industry, and people refer to us as [ Plasmanetics ], not Haemonetics.

But with the CSL announcement, folks thought we were going to drop into the low 40s or something. That never happened. It was a much extended transition. And during that transition, we've meaningfully gained share from the other major players such that we never dropped below 50% of the market. And our aspiration is to get back to that 70% plus based on the superiority of our technology and the service and offerings that we put out there.

Fair. You hinted some plasma innovation in '27 in addition to Persona Plus. What's the long-term vision for innovation there? Could there be other further upside to the pricing in this business as you bring in innovation?

Yes, and there will be. The levers we pull are very obvious. We're better at it than others, but yield is first amongst them because it's an immediate drop-through, no pun intended to the CPL bottom line. Speed is a close second in that regard. So stay tuned there. But then we're the only ones with an integrated offering. So obviously, the software that powers the device is very sophisticated. But there's also stand-alone software, what we refer to as NexLynk DMS, the donor management system that runs the centers.

And with our 80%-plus share of the U.S. collection center opportunity, we have really good insights to what's happening hour-to-hour, day-to-day. We've packaged those insights via data analytics and some AI enablement back as a tool to help our customers run their operations more effectively. There's going to be a steady stream. Think about this as the 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 version that we will continue to roll into the market so that anybody who's operating our integrated system is going to see that steady stream of innovation on top of the big blockbusters like Persona Plus.

Anything else that we should talk about in plasma before we move to vascular closure?

Yes. I just think plasma's best days are ahead of it. I know there's a lot of consternation, as I said, about competitive alternatives. Fully half, probably closer to 55% of the Ig demand is primary and secondary immune deficiency. With the incidence and prevalence of cancer therapy, that growth continues unabated.

On the autoimmune side, I just it's a dynamic market for sure. But we look at new patient starts. New patients start on IG across the entire suite of IG of autoimmune therapies because it's 1/3 of the cost and it works really well. The others are growing. They're growing as adjunctive therapy or where they're non-Ig responsive. So I don't think it's an either/or choice. I think there's plenty of opportunity. It's a great thing for patients. And candidly, it's a good thing for us.

Moving on to vascular closure. Anything you could kind of talk about where do you kind of see the state of affairs in vascular closure now, just to open it up.

Yes. Vascular Closure declined 9% in fiscal '26. That's disappointing in the extreme, and we did go backwards in fourth quarter. However, if you look at our third quarter to fourth quarter performance, it is the first time in fiscal '26 where we grew. In fact, we grew 8% on the Vascular Closure business, and we also grew in the SavvyWire business.

So I think there's a number of factors coming together for us, Travis, that give us confidence that IVT will be a meaningful contributor to our growth in FY '27. We've guided for mid-single digit across hospital. We didn't break it out between the 2 franchises, but IVT can and will contribute to growth. And I'm very confident when we look back, folks will look at that January, February, March time period and say, that's when Haemonetics turned the corner and got back on their front foot and delivered growth with that franchise.

What's giving you confidence in this January, February, March kind of being the turning the corner? I guess Q4 did step up sequentially. I don't know, was that just typical seasonality or are things actually getting better sequentially in Q4?

The seasonality is tough to call. Actually, what we read and see because there's a lag factor here, it will be obvious pretty soon here. But I think actually, procedure volumes were down, not up for a host of factors. We were able to grow because of a number of factors.

For the first time, our commercial group is fully resourced from corporate accounts down through all the frontline clinicals, et cetera. So that team, and that is a more skilled, more capable, more driven team than we've ever had in place. That's the first one. They've got a better product, getting the MVP XL label expansion with the clinical data that came with the trial work that we did meaningfully positions us as a therapeutic choice within that category.

And then candidly, I think you use the sell-side lingo, it's a soft comp. 80% of that 9% decline in fiscal '26 was attributable to 2 factors. One was the releveling of the Guidewire business OEM, right? So we have an existing contract that we bought into when we acquired OpSens. We make product for Abiomed. Abiomed was acquired by J&J. They did 2 things. They rebalanced the supply from 70% down to 50%, and they cut back on their inventory levels dramatically. That hurt us a lot in fiscal '26. That's now annualized. It will not hurt us in '27.

The second piece is EnsoETM. Enso's esophageal cooling. It's on the wrong side of the PFA advancement. And at this point, it's less than $2 million in revenue for us in the fourth quarter. It really can't hurt us going forward. So we'll step off the curve, and then we'll grow from there.

Okay. That's helpful. And on the corporate accounts team and kind of the sales force, you talked about equipping the teams with better tools, and it does take time for sales force transitions to actually get back on track. And we've had a couple of quarters here where that's happening. Is -- where are we at from the kind of the sales force perspective at this point?

Yes. We're very confident in the win ratio, win-loss ratio of that corporate accounts team. We just didn't have a presence there. Actually, the acquisition of Vivasure and large-bore closure even help further strengthens that value prop. But from where we are, I think the IDN and the ASC strategy will increasingly be a source of growth for us going forward.

Our product and the data we now have in support of it, is just a really clean profile. It's fully bioabsorbable, nothing is left behind, highly predictable workflow, rapid time to ambulation, hemostasis, et cetera. So for an ASC where you have owner-operator physicians, they'll look at that value proposition. They are looking at that value proposition and saying this is a winning tool in our armamentarium. And I think we have the wherewithal and the capability to contract with them in ways that make it win-win.

And when you think about the competitive actions and I guess, some actions of some of your competitors in that market, that seemed to have caught you guys by surprise at one point. Is that -- how is that trending? Are you getting some of that share back and some of the trialing that was going on with competitive products?

Yes. Our win-loss ratio, as I said, is really favorable. Those guys aren't going anywhere, right? It's -- they are 2 very aggressive competitors in their own right. They approach the market quite differently. I think what we'll rely on is better team, better product and disproportionately well driven to deliver what we need to do here.

Does -- your better product and clinical data, does that tends to resonate with customers?

Yes. I think any time we've had presence and had the discussions, whether it's at the corporate accounts, IDN level or it's talking to the individual EPs and other operators, the product's predictability, the bioabsorbability, the broader use case now, particularly on some of these large access site technologies for EP and for left atrial appendage gives us a real play.

The other thing that's happening in the backdrop there, the onset of PFA, a lot of folks kind of misinterpreted that, that somehow that displaced us. It did not. It changed the modality though. And we went from having 3 or 4 access sites per procedure down to 2 or 3, depending on whether it was concomitant therapy, right? So left atrial and Afib together or just different approaches to mapping.

What's interesting about that is now with the PFA mark at like 70% to 80% of the market, that stabilizes. It's a net effect. So it's not a $2.8 billion TAM anymore. It's a $2 billion TAM or something therein. But the growth rate increasingly will mirror that of procedure volumes. We estimate the access site growth rate in FY '26 was about 3.5%. We think that roughly doubles in FY '27 for no other reason than the onslaught has now begun to plateau and we sit from here. Once it's fully plateaued, we will grow at the rate of growth. And if that remains mid-teens, that's a really good base for us.

Okay. That's helpful. Yes, the next question was going to be on concomitant. So I don't know if there's anything else you wanted to say on that just to kind of think about that headwind kind of comping out and going away given how fast those procedures are growing?

Yes. There are -- I think some very good companies are leaning in, making sure that, that concomitant therapy gains steam. The good news is we have a product that's uniquely well positioned to close those larger access sites, and we have the label and the clinical data to support it. So net-net, it will tamp down slightly the addressable market, but the growth rate and our applicability within that should be -- it's never been stronger.

Okay. That's helpful. And then with the expanded indication for MVP XL recently, how important is that in the U.S. and then kind of the latest on getting that in Japan?

Yes. I think there's a reluctant, call it, 20% or 30% of the market that without the label would be hesitant to use the product broad-based. For sure, you can't contract for something that's not on label. So I think, again, the ASCs and the IDNs, it's a real plus. But equally so, I think it's the data that was in the trial work that we submitted for that release. And I think as that data is now part of the clinical literature, it really bolsters our value prop.

And then on the ASC opportunity for VASCADE as EP procedures over time move to ASC, how important is that market for you and opportunity to get those?

I think we're a really good fit for that. It will take time. The ASCs, that won't happen overnight. But I think there are half a dozen states across the country, mostly across the South and Southeast that will lead this charge. And we like that concentration. That's one of the areas we've really muscle built our organization to have a much better presence clinically and commercially. And so yes, we think we're in the direction of travel there and will benefit by that momentum.

On PerQseal, the Vivasure acquisition, why was that kind of the right deal?

Yes, there really is no therapeutically equivalent product out there for large-bore closure. So the PerQseal Elite submission that went to FDA is angling towards a 26 French OD. There's products that they can use for that today, but they're really suboptimal.

And so when we look at that product, it's clinical data, we look at the patch study that was the original support for it. We just got really enthusiastic. When we went and talked to our advisory board, those KOLs are just -- they want a tool that works. As you see TAVR and EVAR procedures now growing double digits, they need a closure methodology that is fit for task for these more complicated, more advanced procedures. PerQseal Elite is that product.

When you think about the kind of the call points with existing vascular closure businesses, how do you think about the synergy between the different call points and businesses?

Yes. So PerQseal Elite is designed to be a tuck-in product for. We -- the investments we've already made in our U.S. sales force for vascular closure and for structural heart will support this existing product. It's a closure product, and we intend to market it as closure.

Yes, it's in the IC, it's structural heart play where we have the presence with SavvyWire, but we're going to be very thoughtful about not distracting our existing SavvyWire team. So it's really going to be predominantly driven by the vascular closure force, which is the bulk of our efforts. We have 180 feet on the street today doing that here in the U.S.

How does it compare with like MANTA and kind of gives you the confidence you can take share in that market?

It's sutureless. It's fully bioabsorbable. There's no permanent implant left behind. It's achieved in its trial work an immediate median hemostasis. And the outcomes more broadly, I think that we're going to give us confidence we're going to be able to access that $300 million addressable market safely and with meaningful workflow efficiencies, a much more predictable recovery and hopefully accelerated discharge pathway along the way. So I think we like the profile a lot.

That's helpful. And Blood Management grew 21% this quarter. It's like 13-point acceleration in Q4. You called out transfusion management, but how sustainable is the growth in that business?

Yes. First and foremost, Travis, thank you. Like the first time I've been asked in a public forum about blood management technologies, which at one level is kind of ridiculous. This is a $300 million hospital business, operating at 70% plus gross margins. I went back with the team and looked at the LRP. They delivered mid-teens growth in each of the last 5 years, powered by TEG. It is the definition in our portfolio of durable growth, and we think it's highly sustainable.

When we look at the TEG market, that viscoelastic testing opportunity, whether it's here in the U.S., Japan or in Europe, we're less than 60% penetrated in the total market. Now in fairness, we have 70% share of the market. So we do the heavy lifting there. But we see unbridled opportunity to continue that double-digit growth. That's not what we guided to because we want to be measured about this. But there's no reason that TEG should slow or diminish. And that team, when we asked them to, was able to lean in and in a very thoughtful way, drive recurring revenue.

To your point, in the quarter, the way we achieved 21% growth was that we have the transfusion management business, which is our blood banking software for the major hospitals. That business also grew, contributed equally in the quarter, actually grew nearly 50%. And that, again, the team leaned in. We view that opportunity as Epic converts the landscape. We view that as a land grab. A land grab, we intend to win. These are all long-duration recurring contracts. So the lean in fourth quarter bodes very well for momentum in FY '27. And yes, that's a really nice one, too. We don't talk much about transfusion management, but as it approaches $100 million in revenue, maybe that will change. We'll see.

It starts to move the needle a little bit more.

A little bit more. It's a really good way, and it's one of our most profitable products.

I was asking the margins. It's accretive to margins.

Yes, highly accretive. It's -- as you said, there's a lot of upfront go-live installation, et cetera, but there's an ongoing usage and maintenance revenue stream that makes the thing a nice annuity.

Okay. I think 1/3 of the reason MedTech stocks are not working year-to-date is worries on inflation and there's the war and chips and just oil prices. I just would love to kind of understand like your exposure there. I don't think you have a lot of exposure to the inflation and macro stuff, but just kind of curious given that matters a lot for investors?

Yes, whether it's patients or donors, the underlying procedures continue unabated. I, actually, think it's a very good environment to collect, and you see the growth in our core hospital franchise. So we have 0 qualms about that. We are not immune to tariffs, to inflation or to the geopolitical disruption. Resin is one of our largest raw materials. It's a petroleum-based product. So we've got to be really mindful of that.

Our guidance for the year on that mid-single-digit revenue growth on a reported basis, we said comparable with regards to what we're going to achieve on the earnings side, and that includes 50 to 100 basis points of ongoing margin expansion. We feel confident that we have line of sight to that, but there's a lot of moving parts. And if anything, we've tried to remain prudent to deal with whatever shocks and ebbs and flows occur that we have to deal with to continue this durable growth while we chase that second objective, which is margin expansion.

Yes, I was going to ask on the 50 to 100 basis points of margin expansion. Just think about the visibility there, that kind of gives you the confidence that you can sustain that going forward?

Yes. Well, on the product side, we see a return to growth unabated. So there's volume for sure. There's price. We talked about the new product launches, whether it's heparinase neutralization going into Europe, whether it's Persona Plus here in the U.S. on the plasma side, whether it's VASCADE, MVP XL and PerQseal Elite when it comes, will all contribute to a more favorable mix. So that's a big part of it.

But I think what you'll see from us in fiscal '27 and forward is core productivity and greater operating leverage. As we scale this business, we strongly believe we've already made the investments we need to make to be able to deliver the revenue growth that we view as quite prudent and conservative. So with that in hand, you'll see operating leverage now as that manifests, we'll call it, and we think that gives us room to run.

In hospital margins, I think you talked about 30% plus at some point. I assume a lot of that has to do with the top line. But -- just curious if that's still a target to get there.

Yes. If you go back to the start of our LRP, I think our hospital margins were mid-single digits, 6% is the number I have in my head for that. Today, it's operating in the low 20s. That is very much a function of scale, to your point. And I think as we scale the business, the existing portfolio has the ability to drive towards that 70% gross margin. And again, as we create operating leverage, both with TEG and with VASCADE, you'll see a meaningful uptick in the operating income margin that comes with it.

Okay. I think that mostly covered my questions. I think you wanted a couple of minutes to kind of close out, but we'll let you do that.

Yes. Look, I appreciate it. I started by doubling down on what we've achieved the last 4 years. We have not issued a new LRP, and I think we're going to hold off on doing that. What I hear from you and from your colleagues and from our investor base is we're very much a show-me situation at this point. We have to demonstrate durable growth. I think that's at the absolute core of everything we do. The margin expansion will continue.

What that's left with, and I think what's really becoming much more of the dialogue around Haemonetics is the free cash flow and the return on invested capital. We expect those numbers to continue to move decidedly northward, right? We like the portfolio we've got. We're not out looking for new products. We're going to double down. Our first priority is organic.

With the cash flow we're generating and the strengthening our balance sheet, it gives us some optionality to delever or buy back shares as appropriate. But we feel we've got all the elements in place here, Travis, to be able to drive durable growth going forward. And I think that the sector has got its challenges. We understand that, but we think we can stand apart in terms of total shareholder returns in this environment.

Great. Well, thanks a lot for coming, and good luck with the meetings today.

Thanks. Thanks for having us.

Hello, and welcome to the Q4 2026 Haemonetics Corporation's earnings conference call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to Olga Guyette, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Haemonetics' Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call and Webcast. I'm joined today by Chris Simon, our CEO; and James D'Arecca, our CFO.

This morning, we released our fourth quarter and full fiscal 2026 results and issued fiscal year 2027 guidance. The materials, including our earnings release and supplemental earnings presentation, are available on our Investor Relations website and also in this morning's press release.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we will use both reported and organic revenue growth rates that exclude the impact of FX, the divestiture of the whole blood product line, and the exit of certain liquid solutions products. Organic growth ex-CSL also excludes the impact of the previously disclosed transition of CSL's U.S. disposable business. Our fiscal year 2027 organic revenue guidance is also adjusted for the impact of the 53rd week.

We'll refer to other non-GAAP financial measures to help investors understand Haemonetics' ongoing business performance. Please note that these measures exclude certain charges and income items. A full list of excluded items, reconciliations to our GAAP results and comparisons with the prior year periods are provided in our earnings release.

Our remarks today include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Factors that may cause our results to differ include those referenced in the safe harbor statement in today's earnings release and in other SEC filings. We do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

And now, I'd like to turn it over to Chris.

Thanks, Olga, and good morning, everyone. We delivered fourth quarter revenue of $346 million, up 5% reported and 9% organic ex-CSL, with adjusted EPS of $1.29, up 4% year-over-year. For the full fiscal year, revenue was $1.3 billion, and adjusted EPS was $4.96 per share with improved adjusted earnings, higher adjusted margins, and stronger free cash flow than in the prior year despite $153 million of nonrecurring revenue from portfolio transitions.

Our performance reflects the strength of our core platforms with plasma and TEG driving momentum, margin expansion, and reinforcing our leadership in attractive end markets. This foundation enabled targeted investments to position interventional technologies to contribute to growth in fiscal '27 and beyond.

At the same time, we advanced our innovation agenda with U.S. FDA clearance of Persona PLUS, the expanded indication for VASCADE MVP XL, a submission to expand the VASCADE label in Japan and the acquisition of Vivasure.

Moving on to our business unit results. Hospital revenue was $160 million in the fourth quarter and $588 million for the full year, growing 8% in the quarter and 4% for the year, or 7% and 4% on an organic basis, respectively.

Results were supported by strong performance in blood management technologies, partially offset by interventional technologies, consistent with trends we've discussed throughout the year. Blood management technologies delivered a record quarter with broad-based performance driving revenue growth of 21% in the quarter and 14% for the year.

Hemostasis management grew in the high teens, fueled by sustained strength in TEG 6s, higher disposable utilization, continued capital placements and strong European momentum following the HN cartridge launch.

Transfusion management delivered outsized growth in the quarter, contributing nearly half of the franchise growth as we continue to gain share through the adoption of our integrated solutions that enhance hospital safety and efficiency.

In interventional technologies, revenue declined 10% in the quarter and 9% for the full year. Vascular closure was down 8% in the quarter, reflecting 6% decline in MVP and MVP XL in electrophysiology and continued softness in lower growth coronary and peripheral procedures.

Performance in EP was affected by share loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 and evolving procedure dynamics. Sequentially, EP grew 8% and sensor-guided technologies returned to growth, partially offsetting the continued impact of PFA on esophageal cooling.

Over the past year, we strengthened our commercial organization, equipped our teams with better tools and advanced our product portfolio. Q4 was our strongest quarter of fiscal '26, and we have renewed confidence in the trajectory of IVT. Importantly, the headwinds that drove approximately 80% of the decline in fiscal '26.

First, OEM-related softness in sensor-guided technologies. And second, PFA impacts on esophageal cooling have now been lapped or reduced to a nonmaterial base. With the expanded MVP XL label and the anticipated release of PerQseal Elite, we are strengthening our competitive position and reenergizing the business as we enter fiscal '27.

Turning to plasma and blood center. Plasma momentum continued with another quarter of growth driven by category leadership, differentiated innovation, and strong market fundamentals. The franchise delivered $130 million in revenue in Q4, up 3% reported and 13% organic ex-CSL as we annualized the last of the discontinued CSL U.S. disposable supply agreement. Full year revenue was $524 million, down 2% reported, but up 20% organic ex-CL (sic) [ ex-CSL ] above our revised guidance range of 17% to 19%.

Market fundamentals remain highly attractive, supported by resilient immunoglobulin demand and continued global expansion in plasma collections. Our share of U.S. plasma collections grew in the high single digits in both the quarter and full year with double-digit growth in Europe as customers increasingly rely on our platform to drive efficiencies.

Persona PLUS is the next step in our innovation cycle, further strengthening our competitive position by enhancing percent yield by mid-single digits on average, supported by a large randomized clinical trial of over 30,000 donations and underpinned by our proprietary patent-protected technology. It has been met with strong customer enthusiasm with multiple adoptions underway.

Blood center also contributed positively to the fourth quarter, generating $56 million in revenue, up 1% reported and up 6% organic. For the full year, revenue was $221 million, down 15%, reflecting the whole blood divestiture, but up 5% on an organic basis.

Performance was driven by continued strength in global plasma demand and stable and growing U.S. red cell collections despite our ongoing portfolio rationalization efforts.

For the full year, total company revenue declined 2% reported due to portfolio transitions, but grew 10% organically ex-CSL, at the upper end of our guidance. We expect growth to continue in fiscal '27 with projected revenue growth of 4% to 7% reported and 3% to 6% organic adjusted for the extra week in FX.

In hospital, we expect mid-single-digit growth with both franchises contributing. We anticipate continued expansion of the TEG 6s installed base and increased HN cartridge utilization in blood management technologies.

In IVT, we are ending the year with a stronger commercial organization, improving market dynamics, and a more competitive portfolio, supported by the MVP XL label expansion. With most headwinds now behind us, we are focused on translating these improvements into consistent growth. Our guidance excludes any contribution from PerQseal Elite, which is currently undergoing FDA review.

In plasma, consistent with our FY '26 approach, our mid-single-digit growth outlook is grounded in controllable drivers, share gains, the rollout of Persona PLUS and modest collection volume growth while retaining upside if collection trends remain strong and/or adoption accelerates. We remain confident in the durability of growth and our ability to further extend our leadership in this attractive market.

In blood center, strong plasma-driven demand and customer relationships will continue to support performance. However, ongoing portfolio rationalization remains a near-term headwind, and we expect revenue to decline in the mid-single digits.

We're encouraged by our progress, and we remain focused on consistent execution to deliver growth and sustainable value for our customers and our shareholders.

James, over to you.

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. We closed the year with strong execution and meaningful progress in strengthening the quality of our earnings, expanding margins, improving cash flow, and further aligning our portfolio with higher growth, higher-margin markets that will continue to support our growth aspirations in the long run.

Adjusted gross margin in the fourth quarter was 59.7%, down 50 basis points year-over-year, primarily reflecting the absence of the prior year CSL shortfall payment and the impact from tariffs enacted earlier in the year, partially offset by a structurally higher margin portfolio.

For the full year, adjusted gross margin expanded 280 basis points to 60.3%, driven by portfolio transformation, strong volume growth in plasma and blood management technologies, and continued strong demand for our market-leading innovation.

Adjusted operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $122 million, up 5% year-over-year, largely driven by the addition of Vivasure and the impact from tariffs, coupled with higher-than-expected costs from the self-insured portion of our benefits plan, higher performance-based compensation, and a deliberate step-up in targeted investments to strengthen our commercial capabilities.

Together with the adjusted gross margin dynamics in the quarter, this resulted in adjusted operating income of $85 million and adjusted operating margin of 24.4%, down 50 basis points year-over-year.

Adjusted operating expenses for the full year were $465 million, up 2%, driven by continued investment in R&D and selling and marketing, the acquisition of Vivasure, and higher performance-based compensation.

Adjusted operating margin for the year expanded 140 basis points to 25.4%, reflecting structural improvement from portfolio transformation even as we continue to invest for future growth and absorb macro cost headwinds.

The adjusted tax rate was 24.8% in the fourth quarter and fiscal year '26 compared to 22.2% and 23.2% in the prior year, respectively.

Adjusted EPS increased 4% to $1.29 in the fourth quarter, inclusive of a modest benefit from share count, which was more than offset by higher interest, tax, and FX. For the full year, adjusted EPS was $4.96, up 9%, demonstrating the strength of the underlying business and disciplined capital allocation that helped offset the impact of portfolio transitions, which are now fully behind us, partially offset by higher interest and tax.

Now turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. Cash generation continues to be a defining strength of the business and a key source of strategic flexibility. With our major device investments and productivity initiatives largely behind us, the business has returned to a strong and sustainable cash flow profile.

In the fourth quarter, we generated $45 million of free cash flow, bringing the full year free cash flow to $210 million with the free cash flow to adjusted net income conversion ratio of 89%. While free cash flow in the quarter was down versus last year, mainly due to the timing of income taxes paid and accounts receivable, full year free cash flow increased by $65 million, largely driven by better working capital management and less CapEx.

We ended the year with $245 million in cash after deploying $175 million to repurchase over 3 million shares, investing $61 million in the Vivasure acquisition and continuing to fund organic growth, reflecting a balanced capital allocation approach that supports both organic growth and shareholder returns.

We enhanced capital structure flexibility and positioned the business for continued deleveraging that can be supported by strong cash flow. While total debt remained unchanged at $1.2 billion, we refinanced $300 million of convertible notes with the revolving credit facility, ending the year with $700 million of convertible notes due in 2029, $239 million of term loan A debt and a revolver balance of $300 million with a net leverage ratio as defined in our credit agreement at 2.73x EBITDA.

On that note, let's move on to discuss the rest of our fiscal year '27 guidance. Consistent with the strong foundation and momentum Chris outlined, we expect fiscal 2027 revenue growth of 4% to 7% reported and 3% to 6% organic. We expect continued margin expansion with adjusted operating margin improving 50 to 100 basis points year-over-year, driven by continued strong momentum across our growth franchises, innovation, and operating leverage as we begin to scale IVT.

Also included in that expectation is a full year of dilution from the Vivasure acquisition with no associated revenue in our fiscal year '27 guidance, additional impact from tariffs, ERP-related costs, and continued investment in targeted high-return growth initiatives.

At the earnings level, we expect adjusted EPS to grow broadly in line with revenue as improvements in operating leverage and mix benefits are assumed to be largely offset by higher interest and tax, which is expected to be higher by about 100 basis points than in fiscal '26. Importantly, the business is expected to continue to demonstrate strong earnings quality, supported by a highly recurring revenue model and disciplined capital deployment.

We expect free cash flow conversion of approximately 80%, reflecting a disciplined approach to working capital that preserves flexibility to manage inflationary and tariff pressures and invest in growth while enabling organic investment, deleveraging, and opportunistic share buybacks.

With that, I'll turn it back to Chris for closing remarks.

Thanks, James. I want to share a few closing thoughts about our journey over the last 4 years. Fiscal '26 marked the culmination of our long-range plan for transformational growth, whereby we fundamentally repositioned Haemonetics into a more focused, higher quality, and more resilient company with significantly stronger growth, margins, and cash flow. We evolved and rebalanced our portfolio.

In plasma, we drove broad adoption of NexSys and Persona while advancing the next wave of innovation with Express Plus to reduce procedure times, Persona PLUS to further improve yield and Device360 to digitize and streamline center operations.

We rationalized our blood center portfolio, including the divestiture of whole blood to drive margin expansion. We broadened the clinical utility of TEG 6s with the HN cartridge, extending into high acuity settings such as cardiovascular surgery and liver transplantation and advanced international expansion with CE Mark certification.

We strengthened the VASCADE platform with MVP XL for larger sheath procedures, enhanced our clinical evidence, scaled commercially, and expanded into large bore closure with PerQseal Elite.

We also revamped the operating model of the company, advancing operational excellence, scaling and automating our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, progressing our ERP digital transformation, and building the commercial and clinical infrastructure required to sustain growth, including a robust NexSys capital cycle to support ongoing global share gains. The results, low teens compounded average organic revenue growth ex-CSL, high teens adjusted EPS CAGR, low 60s adjusted gross margins, 660 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion, and $636 million of cumulative free cash flow, results achieved while investing for growth, navigating dynamic markets and macro environments, and overcoming $153 million of nonrecurring revenue from portfolio transitions.

With the transitions behind us, we expect growth to reaccelerate and become more consistent, supported by a structurally more attractive mix of recurring revenue from high-growth, high-margin platforms.

Our priorities for fiscal '27 are clear: Continue to win in plasma, extend our leadership in TEG and reinvigorate growth in vascular closure while driving greater operating efficiency.

Quality earnings growth will further strengthen our balance sheet and create opportunities for value creation through disciplined capital allocation, including organic growth, delevering and opportunistic returns of capital to shareholders via buybacks when appropriate.

Thank you, operator. Please open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Cooper from Raymond James.

Maybe first on plasma. I don't think you shared, and apologies if I missed it, but U.S. collection volume trends you saw in the quarter at kind of the market level. And then as you think about the end market views for '27, given discussions with fractionators, would love just kind of the latest and greatest thinking that's included in the guide.

And then secondly, if you could give a little bit more on the Persona PLUS rollout in terms of how the base has adopted it, how much has adopted it thus far? And then are you able to take some price with that? Or is this more of a tool to extend contracts, ensure stickiness, et cetera? So just would love kind of how that rollout is shaping up.

Andrew, thanks for the question. Look, FY '26 was a record year for plasma. We overcame that hangover that's been out there for a bit now and had what we describe internally as the trifecta of growth, where we had price from the remaining Persona rollout. We had a meaningful uptick in share gains, which is something we're obviously quite proud of and a return to double-digit growth on collection volume in the latter part of the year. So real strength there.

In the fourth quarter, in addition to the normal seasonality, we lapped our price gains on Persona. So that was not a meaningful contributor in the quarter. We do have some ongoing share gains from earlier transformation, earlier transitions, modest tick down in collection volume. But again, quite consistent with what we see as kind of the long-term trend for growth.

FY '27 guide, we took a page out of our playbook for FY '26, and we're really only talking about the things that we directly control, the annualization of share gains and the committed upgrade to Persona PLUS. We didn't really include any collection volume, I think 0% to 2% again this year. We don't control that.

Obviously, as I said in the prepared remarks, if collection volumes remain hot and/or the pace of adoption of Persona accelerates, then we have meaningful upside from what we otherwise view as very prudent guidance with mid-single-digit growth for the year.

In terms of PLUS, it's the next stage of our advancements. Nobody can match it. It's another -- Persona on average gave 10% benefit. This is another 5% on average above that. Tremendous acceptance into the market. We've already begun the upgrade cycle. And while we don't talk about price explicitly, the value of dropping that additional 5% yield to our customers creates a lot of room for mutual benefit, right? So you should absolutely expect price to be part of the equation as we roll forward this year. But as our convention, we won't put it into the guide until it's fully contracted and we have a committed timeline for implementation. So more to come there. We think it gives us some breathing room as the year progresses, some potential upside, but really excited about it, puts just another step forward for the platform to advance and really be unrivaled in the market.

And if I can just ask one more, maybe on margins. I think you sort of forecasted the 50 to 100 basis points as a reasonable starting point, but you're coming off a little bit lower of an exit rate here. So when we look at 4Q for you, James, maybe you called out increased investments, some of which I assume will persist versus things that are maybe a little bit more onetime in terms of benefit costs. I think you called out performance comp and tariffs. So just if you could break that down for us a little bit more and lay out how those things flow into the '27 guide as well.

Yes, sure. Thanks, Andrew. On Q4 operating margins, the results certainly were lower than we initially expected, and it really comes down to the 3 items, which I think you mentioned. First, tariffs were higher than anticipated. We saw roughly 60% of the annual impact in Q4 as our plasma inventories were depleted. Second, as you mentioned, we had the higher claims expense for our self-insured medical plans. And third, we stepped up sales and marketing investment ahead of our FY '27 launches, including MVP XL and PerQseal Elite.

When I look to FY '27, we expect the operating margin expansion to be driven primarily by gross margin improvement, but also by greater operating leverage. So on gross margin, we expect the benefits from our plasma innovation cycle, which Chris just talked about, including Persona PLUS, along with volume-driven leverage. And we also expect a favorable mix shift as hospital, which runs close to 70% gross margins contributes more of the growth. Offsetting some of that, we did incorporate higher tariff costs into our standard costs and we're assuming a 15% tariff level versus the current 10% that we're paying. So that differential is already built in.

Overall, on operating expenses, I'd say we're investing. So expenses are going to be up, including with Vivasure, but we're expecting operating leverage as revenue growth and gross margin expansion outpace expense growth. We're staying disciplined, and we're looking to protect our profitability while funding the launches.

So overall, we do think some of those items will recur like the tariffs we're building in, higher costs for medical, and we do have those bigger investments in there for S&M. But that's all built in to the guide. And we look forward to improved operating margins next year.

Our next question comes from the line of Marie Thibault from BTIG.

Maybe I'll pick up where Andrew left off and ask about hospital. I thought it was really encouraging to hear. You're feeling reenergized about the interventional tech trajectory. So just want to get a little bit more detail on the dynamics you're seeing stabilization, signs of improvement. Certainly, you've got the expanded label for MVP XL. So I would love more details on that and the cadence for how you think fiscal '27 could unfold for this part of the business?

Yes. Thanks, Marie. We -- I think quite clearly, whether it's 6 or 9 or 12 months from now, we will look back at this point and say that was the inflection point. Fourth quarter of fiscal '26 is when Haemonetics IVT turned the corner. And we understand we were down 9% for the year. When you step back from that number, and there's no apologies here, but the reality is fully 80% of that 9% decline was attributable to 2 factors: the releveling of the guidewire OEM business with J&J's acquisition of Abiomed, they took the inventory down, rebalanced their sourcing a bit, and that was a big chunk of the hit.

The other hit, of course, was ensoETM, which is on the wrong side of the PFA adoption curve. The good news is we've lapped the first, and the second is now at a level where roughly $2 million per quarter, it can't hurt us. So what you will see from us going forward is threefold. You will see a return to growth at or above market rates for vascular closure led by electrophysiology. You'll see SavvyWire, the direct retail business that we control, growing disproportionately. And with any luck, we'll launch the PerQseal Elite product later this year, and we think that's a novel offering for large-bore closure, which gives us a lot of encouragement.

In short, the enthusiasm you're hearing from us is a better team, better tools, a better product and a more accommodating market overall. So we understand our win-loss ratio. We understand what this team is capable of. We've equipped them. You heard from James, the investments we've made throughout the year, but especially in the fourth quarter, to position them for stellar performance in FY '27, and that's exactly what we expect.

A quick one maybe for James here. Free cash flow conversion, I think you cited 89% this fiscal year, which is tremendous. You're pointing to 80% conversion next fiscal year. Obviously, nothing to sneeze at. It's still very impressive. But what's behind that trajectory, the 80% versus the nearly 90% this year?

Yes. For the most part, Marie, that's just a bit of conservatism being built in. We know that we have to increase our inventory levels. So it's working capital related really driving most of that, but also a healthy dose of conservatism in there.

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Petrone from Mizuho.

Maybe one on plasma, one on IVT. On plasma, maybe just a recap on the landscape there. Some chatter that there's some discounting going on by some of the fractionators in that space. And then in addition to that, there's a shift as it relates to CIDP prescriptions. In other words, the FcRn competition question. So maybe what's the latest in terms of what you're hearing just on just finished good IG inventory as well as FcRn competition in CIDP? And I'll have a quick follow-up on VASCADE MVP.

Hello, Anthony, it's Chris. Thanks for the question. We remain really bullish on plasma. It defines durable growth in our portfolio and is a major source, not only of earnings, but free cash flow and return on invested capital. So we look at this. There are certainly others that are more expert beginning with our customers. But our understanding is quite positive with regards to the long-term demand of IG-derived pharmaceutical therapies.

What gets lost in the chatter, I think, is that fully half the market -- more than half the market and a disproportionate source of growth of the category is primary and secondary immune deficiencies, which tragically are being driven incidence and prevalence by cancer therapy. And so there is no alternative to IG in that space, and we see that growth unabated.

On the other side, autoimmune, what we look to primarily is new patient starts. And what we see is IG remains the standard of care. Now I think folks misinterpret that when they see growth in VYVGART that, that must come at the expense of IG. And the reality is that's just a misinterpretation of the facts. The reality is both can grow because the primary use for VYVGART in those autoimmune categories is as secondary therapy for when their patient is nonresponsive to IG or that they want to overlay anti-FcRn in addition to IG to get an optimal result. There's very few examples of naive IG patients being started on the alternative therapy. And there's none that I'm aware of where someone is being switched off of IG who was otherwise well tolerated and well treated. Some of that's economics, some of that's just the base underlying efficacy of IG therapy. So there will always be noise in the system. There will always be a degree of cyclicality. Inventory levels are more art than science as we understand it. But we remain very bullish on the near, the intermediate, and the long-term demand for IG therapy and the need to collect accordingly.

And then just quick on MVP, VASCADE. All of the PFA companies reported here, it looks like the market for cardiac ablation slowed a little bit in 1Q. Just from the vantage point of Haemonetics, where does it see just the underlying market for EP volumes?

Yes. Thanks, Anthony. I think one of the positive silver lining, if you will, of the pace of PFA adoption and the changing modalities associated with it is that it is very quickly settling in, which is helpful for us because we have a dual effect. Higher procedure volumes is obviously a good thing, but the reduction in access sites works against demand for our product. Because this is now leveling, you will increasingly see demand for closure track with the underlying demand for procedures, which is meaningfully ahead. When we go back and estimate FY '26, the underlying growth in access sites was probably mid-single digits, perhaps as low as 3.5% or 4%. What we expect for this year is certainly higher than that, probably in the mid- to high-single digits, which bodes well for us given our aspiration to grow at or above the market fairly quickly here.

So from our vantage point, we're ubiquitous, particularly with the label expansion and the added clinical evidence, which is really outstanding. We are indifferent between which therapy is used. We have the best access closure for small and mid bore, soon to be large bore as well. And so from our vantage point, we think we can grow at or above market. If the market modulates down a tad, that probably just gives us a chance to catch our breath and get back on our front foot.

Our next question comes from the line of Allen Gong from JPMorgan.

I guess like one that I have is on PerQseal. I know you're not including any contribution in your current guidance, but just remind us on the pathway to market there and potential upside to the guide from that.

Yes. Hello, Gong. As is our convention, we've included all of the launch expense, which actually began last quarter to prepare the team, the product and the market for a truly outstanding launch whenever that comes this year. The product has been submitted to FDA. It's under review. We'll have the normal ongoing process. I don't want to comment about the timeline. It's just unpredictable in that regard, particularly in this current environment. But we really like the data submission. It's based on a set of trials that have been well vetted by the academic community. And so we feel quite confident in the product's profile and its eventual approval. We didn't include any of the revenue because we don't control it. And so whenever it comes, we will be ready to go. And we think this will really be a meaningful novel offering for large-bore closure up to 26 French outer diameter. And so we think it will strengthen our play, not only in vascular closure more broadly, but in structural heart as well. So it's a nice complement. It's a true tuck-in. We don't need to add additional resources beyond what we already have in place. We just need to make sure those resources have the tools and are properly trained and equipped to be able to create launch intensity, which we expect later this year.

And then just as a quick follow-up to an earlier question just on plasma supply. I just wanted to confirm when we think about some call-outs of maybe abnormal stocking and potential destocking dynamics in the quarter, that's not something that you're seeing. That's not something that you're necessarily concerned about for the rest of the fiscal year. I just want to make sure that's the right way to think about it.

Yes, Allen, I'd just go back to our guidance at mid-single digit. We have included 0% to 2% collection volume growth for the year. So if what you are describing is right, we're indemnified from it, right? We didn't anticipate collection volume growth. Anything that is above that 0% to 2% is going to be upside for us as the year progresses.

What we'll lean into is an expedited rollout of Persona PLUS, where we have meaningful innovation-based pricing that will really help the market. There have been -- in prior yield rollouts, there have been trade-offs made where folks collect less because -- less total collections because they're getting more per collection from us. That's part of our value proposition. It drives margin expansion, and it helps with the overall profitability and the durability of what we're doing. But the actual inventory levels, I think the numbers get confusing because you've got individual customers at very different stages in the life cycle. So for us, with north of 50 share of the total collection market between the U.S. and Europe, we have more ability to kind of balance that out perhaps than some.

Our next question comes from the line of Larry Solow from CJS Securities.

It's [ Pete Lucas ] for Larry. Just following up on PerQseal. Should we expect incremental sales and marketing investment in fiscal year '27 ahead of when approved? And how should we kind of think about that?

Yes. I'll let James walk through the details of it, Pete. But we -- our guidance of mid-single-digit growth for hospital and 100 basis points of margin expansion fully anticipates the resourcing of that launch for success. And good news is we were able to do a bunch of that work in the fourth quarter. Some of it will continue into the year, but it's fully reflected in our guidance. What's not reflected from my answer to the prior question is any revenue attainment. We'll -- if and when, we'll adjust accordingly.

Yes. When you look at the numbers, it was -- Vivasure was roughly $0.05 or so dilutive in Q4. If you take that and multiply it by 4, that would give you about $0.20 dilution for Vivasure for the full year.

Our next question comes from the line of David Rescott from Baird.

Two quick clarification questions and then I had a follow-up. And it sounds like you kind of just answered part of the first one as it relates to the contribution from these launch investments for Vivasure. But maybe can you think about or help us think about when we look at the margins in the quarter, I think operating margins in plasma was down 650 basis points year-over-year. If you know, what maybe that baseline operating margin, overall was in -- in your mind, maybe taking out that $0.05 kind of gets you to what that adjusted ex-Vivasure number is. And then as it relates to the guide for 2027, you called out EPS growth comparable to that of revenue. Just curious if that's specific to the reported revenue growth or the organic revenue growth guidance for the year? And then I had a follow-up.

Yes. On the second one, the EPS is commensurate with the reported revenue growth because that includes all 53 weeks. On the operating margin question on plasma, there's a couple of things that drove the decline versus Q4 in the previous year. One, I would say, as I mentioned, was we had some tariff expense that came in, in the quarter that was higher than what we anticipated. That pushed it down.

The other thing that pushed it down was as we got into the fourth quarter, we hit some of the higher tiers on our volume-based pricing, and that also pushed it down a bit as well. But the baseline plasma operating margin, if you took the average of the year, excluding the $16 million that was in the first quarter for software, that should get you something close to a baseline amount there for plasma.

David, it's Chris. If I could just jump in on that, if I may, because I think one thing that may get lost in the shuffle is we fully expect FY '27 to be a robust year of product launches. It will include the heparinase neutralization cartridge, which is now in Europe, but we will take more broadly, the MVP label expansion, which gives us tremendous cache at IDNs and ASCs and just a broader opportunity to promote the product directly in the market.

We talked about Persona PLUS and what we think that will mean. We expect everyone to adopt that over the course of time here. And then PerQseal Elite when it comes. And so we factored in what we believe are the costs associated with making sure this goes. That's part of the guide. If we surprise ourselves positively, then the revenue forecast and the associated margins with that will look prudent in hindsight.

And then maybe on the assumptions for the plasma guide in the year. I appreciate the color you provided on that already. But when we look back to the NexSys Persona Express Plus launch a couple of years ago, you had the improved yield benefits coming out of that in the period exiting that, the underlying plasma market growth declined or was slower than expected. And I know we don't definitively know what the reason was, but perhaps you could assume that better yield was a factor there. As you think about launching the new Persona PLUS system with a better yield enhancement coming with it, how, I guess, do you potentially expect that to impact the overall plasma collections if, again, perhaps the reason why you had slower growth in the prior couple of year period may have been related to the initial new product launch? And feel free to tell me if you think that's wrong as well.

David, I don't think we have clairvoyance on this, right? We continue to believe plasma will play an outsized role in terms of durable growth, free cash flow and return on invested capital. The guidance of mid-single-digit growth for FY '27 includes the annualization of share gains, which have already been implemented, right? So share gains, we grew 20% in fiscal '26, as you know, fully half of that growth or share gains. And so that is still annualizing as we speak and will continue certainly through the first part of the year.

Innovation-based pricing, important lever for us. We've annualized all the Persona gains previously built in. What we will have is potential upside associated with the Persona PLUS and accelerated adoption there, given what that means to the market.

In terms of volume, again, 0% to 2% because we don't control it. The dynamic you described is very much what took place for the second wave of Persona rollout where some of the largest collectors took the 10% yield and met their annual objectives, and we're able to meaningfully lower cost per liter as a result.

The first wave of Persona rollout was the opposite effect, which is folks that were intended to grow 10% for the year grew 20% to meet their individual demand at the time. So it will vary by individual customer. It's really difficult to call. We feel like we're well insulated at that mid-single-digit overall guide given that 0% to 2% is what's attributable to volume at this point.

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Matson from Needham.

This is [ Joseph ] on for Mike. Maybe just one on plasma and then a quick follow-up on Vivasure. So 4Q looks like plasma growth ex-CSL maybe slow compared to the last 3 quarters. But I'm just wondering, was there any weather disruptions early in the quarter that affected plasma there? And how should we be thinking about Q1? I believe it's usually the seasonally weakest. So should we expect sequential decline from here?

And then just with fiscal '27 being, I guess, the first clean year without the impact from CSL. Can you maybe tell us if there's any residual impact on the business that maybe investors aren't considering? Or is it completely headwind free from here?

Yes. Hello, Joe, thanks for the questions. Let me answer them in reverse order. I used the phrase in a public setting recently that the fog is clearing and it's going to reveal the forest for the trees. I think the $153 million of overhang or hangover depending on who you're talking to, does clear entirely. And it will be nice to be able to talk with you guys without the asterisks and the but fors and what sounds like a list of apologies, just durable growth, cash flow and return on capital, which that business is known for. So yes, we are very much looking forward to a clean print in FY '27 and beyond.

In terms of the fourth quarter, first quarter dynamic, you are right in the seasonality. Actually, our fiscal fourth quarter, which is the first calendar year that we just concluded, typically is the weakest collection period of the year. There's lots of things that get attributed this year to your point. Yes, we had some heavy storms that prevented donors from getting into the centers back at the very beginning of the quarter, that seemed to normalize and correct out. There are a lot of speculation about tax refunds and given the changes in the tax laws that refunds were larger, but then some were delayed. And so I don't really know how to handicap the ups and downs on that. We had a good quarter. Plasma did what we needed it to do to round out the year.

In terms of first quarter softness, it's not what we're experiencing, but again, we don't control it. So we're going to remain prudent and conservative around that. But typically, first quarter begins to build, and it gains real momentum in second and third quarter, and we would expect this year to look similar.

And then yes, just a quick one. Are you guys seeing any early commercial signals? Obviously, not launched, but any early signals with your customers for interest in the Vivasure platform, PerQseal? And maybe how large could that opportunity be in fiscal '27? I know it's more of a second half later in the year launch, but any help -- any color there would be helpful.

Sure. The early signals are overwhelmingly positive. I think the readout of the various DCT and HRS and elsewhere have been uniformly positively met that there's a novel new therapy coming for large-bore closure where there's just tremendous unmet need in the market today given the existing therapies.

The product is approved for sale in Europe. We've intentionally not leaned in because as part of our integration planning, we have work to do in terms of manufacturing scale-up, reduction in cost of goods sold, make the product accretive, not just on a top line basis, but also to our margin expansion. So we are working diligently on that.

What we see in Europe, though, because we've done a very controlled process where we're working with major academic centers around Europe is really meaningful interest and excitement about what the product means for the marketplace. When we step back on a global basis, we estimate the TAM for that opportunity at roughly $300 million. And we know where we sit vis-a-vis the competition. We know what we need to do to be successful on the launch. Let's wait for the release from FDA and the ultimate label that we receive, and then we'll be more than happy to drill down on exactly what this means. And when I use the term launch velocity, we'll put numbers behind it, that will be easily quantified.

There are no questions at this time. I would like to thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude our program. You may now disconnect.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2026 Haemonetics Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Olga Guyette, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Haemonetics' Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call and Webcast. I'm joined today by Chris Simon, our CEO; and James D'Arecca, our CFO.

This morning, we released our third quarter and year-to-date fiscal 2026 results and updated full year fiscal 2026 guidance. The materials, including our earnings release, Form 10-Q and the supplemental earnings presentation are available on our Investor Relations website and in this morning's press release. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we will use both reported and organic revenue growth rates that exclude the impact of FX, the divestiture of the whole blood product line and the exit of certain liquid solution products.

Argenx growth at CSL also excludes the impact of the previously disclosed transition of CSL's U.S. disposable business. We'll also refer to other non-GAAP financial measures to help investors understand Haemonetics' ongoing business performance. Please note that these measures exclude certain charges and income items. A full list of excluded items reconciliations to our GAAP results and comparisons with the prior year periods are provided in our earnings release.

Our remarks today include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Factors that might cause the results to differ include those referenced in the safe harbor statement in today's release and in our other SEC filings. We do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

And now I'd like to turn it over to Chris.

Thanks, Olga. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. We delivered a strong quarter, and we are raising our full year revenue earnings and free cash flow guidance. NexSys and TEG delivered outsized growth driven by sustained share gains, innovation-based pricing and durable end market demand, demonstrating the strength and resilience of these core products and our increasingly productive operating model.

Third quarter revenue was $339 million bringing year-to-date revenue to $988 million. Reported revenue reflects the $153 million impact of last year's portfolio transitions, allowing for these nonrecurring items, underlying performance remained strong, with organic growth ex-CSL of 8% in the quarter and 10% year-to-date. Adjusted earnings per share increased 10% in the quarter and 11% year-to-date to $1.31 and $3.67 per share, respectively, underscoring both the quality and the durability of our earnings.

With that context, let's review our businesses in more detail. Hospital revenue was $144 million in the third quarter and $429 million year-to-date, down 1% in the quarter and up 2% year-to-date organically as strong performance in Blood Management Technologies offset softness in interventional technologies. Blood Management Technologies delivered solid growth, up 8% in the quarter and 11% year-to-date, driven by sustained double-digit growth in hemostasis management.

Momentum was fueled by TEG 6s disposable sales and rapid adoption of the global Heparanase neutralization cartridge, which continues to accelerate account conversions and penetration. We have significant runway to upgrade legacy TEG 5000 systems, increase TEG 6s device sales and utilization and expand share within current indications. The launch of the HN cartridge in EMEA and Japan further strengthens our global leadership and adds international growth factors to the $400 million-plus serviceable market.

Growth elsewhere in BMT was modest with transfusion management gains largely offset by a decline in cell salvage driven by a tough comp following last year's customer migration to higher-margin technology offerings. Interventional Technology revenue declined 12% in the quarter and 8% year-to-date driven primarily by softness in esophageal calling amid accelerating PFA adoption and OEM-related headwinds in sensor guided technologies, which together accounted for most of the year-over-year quarterly decline.

Vascular closure revenue declined 4% in the quarter reflecting a 3% decline in MVP and MVP XL and electrophysiology, and softness in VASCADE in lower-growth coronary and peripheral procedures. Performance in electrophysiology was influenced by prior share loss, order timing in several of our largest accounts in December and ongoing shifts in the procedural dynamics that temporarily impact the growth of our addressable market.

Our confidence in IVT franchise is unchanged. We believe in the clinical and the economic differentiation of our product portfolio and we are enthusiastic about the anticipated MVP XL label expansion and the U.S. launch of PerQseal Elite. The vascular closure sales force is asserting itself and taking targeted actions to strengthen execution. These commercial initiatives are gaining traction, and we expect Interventional Technologies will return to growth in FY '27.

Accordingly, we now expect the hospital business to deliver reported and organic growth of approximately 4% at the low end of our prior 4% to 7% range. Moving to Plasma and Blood Center. Plasma performance continues to accelerate with another quarter of growth, driven by our category leadership and superior innovation. Notably, the franchise has returned to growth with revenue of $139 million, up 3% on a reported basis despite the last remnants of customer transition headwinds.

Organic growth, excluding CSL was 20% in the quarter and 22% year-to-date with approximately half of quarterly growth driven by share gains and the remainder from collection volume and the full annualization of innovation benefits. Plasma fundamentals remain attractive, underpinned by durable immunoglobulin demand across a broad spectrum of indications. That strength is evident in the market as U.S. plasma collections grew in the low double digits in the third quarter with approximately 50% global market share and a differentiated integrated platform, we operate from a position of strength and expect upcoming innovation in FY '27 to further advance our competitive advantage.

Given the year-to-date performance, we are raising our full year reported revenue guidance to a decline of 2% to 4% from a decline of 4% to 7% previously. And organic revenue guidance ex CSL to growth of 17% to 19% from 14% to 17% previously. Blood Center revenue was $57 million in the quarter and $165 million year-to-date growing 3% in the quarter and 4% year-to-date organically, driven primarily by international plasma demand and market leadership, partially offset by order timing and continued portfolio rationalization.

We are raising full year Blood Center reported revenue guidance to a decline of 16% to 18% from 17% to 19%, inclusive of the whole blood divestiture and increasing organic growth to 1% to 3% from flat as international plasma demand is expected to more than offset ongoing portfolio rationalization. Sustained strength across plasma, Blood Center and Blood Management technologies has improved our total company outlook.

Accordingly, we are increasing our full year reported revenue guidance to a decline of 1% to 3% from 1% to 4% previously. Reflecting the impact of last year's portfolio transitions, the majority of which are now behind us and fully reflected in our year-to-date results. This translates to raising our organic revenue guidance ex CSL by 50 basis points at the midpoint to a range of 8% to 10%, up from 7% to 10% previously. Over to you, James.

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. We delivered another quarter of strong financial performance marked by sustained margin expansion and improving cash flow. While we continue to take steps to recapture growth momentum in interventional technologies, our results highlight the benefits of our portfolio transformation, structural improvements supporting profitability and the multiple performance levers supporting continued progress toward our long-range plan objectives.

Adjusted gross margin was 60.2% in the third quarter and 60.5% year-to-date, representing increases of 250 and 390 basis points, respectively. Similar to the prior quarters, margin expansion was driven by the adoption of NexSys with Persona Technology divestiture of the whole blood business in blood center and our expanding share in both plasma and blood management technologies. These same drivers are expected to support similar gross margins for the remainder of the year.

Adjusted operating expenses in the third quarter were $115 million up $3 million or 3%, primarily reflecting adjustments in performance-based compensation due to continued outperformance across the consolidated results. We have also remained deliberate in prioritizing targeted investments in R&D and innovation to support long-term growth. Year-to-date, adjusted operating expenses were $343 million, modestly above $339 million last year, largely due to the same factors impacting the third quarter. Adjusted operating income was flat versus the prior year in the third quarter at $89 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 60 basis points year-over-year to 26.3%.

In the third quarter, operating margin expansion was driven primarily by the improved margin profile of our plasma and blood center businesses supported by share gains on NexSys PCS with Persona and the divestiture of the whole blood business. This was partially offset by modest margin pressure in hospital reflecting continued softness in interventional technologies and the resulting impact on operating leverage. On a year-to-date basis, all segments contributed to adjusted operating margin expansion despite some volatility in the quarterly segment performance. For the total company, adjusted operating income increased 4% year-to-date to $254 million with adjusted operating margin expanding 200 basis points to 25.7%.

Based on performance to date and continued margin tailwinds across the portfolio, we continue to expect approximately 26% to 27% in adjusted operating margin for the full year. Updated guidance also includes modest near-term dilution from the Vivasure acquisition as we invest ahead of a planned commercial launch in fiscal '27. The adjusted tax rate was 24.9% for the quarter and 24.8% year-to-date. We anticipate a slight step-up in the adjusted income tax rate in the fourth quarter and expect to finish the year with an adjusted tax rate of approximately 25%.

Adjusted net income increased 2% to $61 million in the third quarter and 3% year-to-date to $175 million. Adjusted EPS rose 10% to $1.31 in the quarter and 11% year-to-date to $3.67, which includes included benefits from recent share buybacks and FX. In the fourth quarter, we expect interest and tax to be a headwind, reflecting a lower tax rate in the prior year and incremental interest expense related to the repayment of $300 million of 0 coupon convertible notes. We now expect our adjusted EPS for fiscal '26 to be in the range of $4.90 to $5 a share, which reflects our strong performance to date, coupled with the acquisition of Vivasure.

Turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Cash generation has reemerged as a defining strength of Haemonetics and a core source of strategic flexibility. With our major device build-out complete and a series of company-wide productivity initiatives now largely behind us, the business has returned to the robust cash flow profile has historically been known for. In the third quarter, we generated $74 million of free cash flow, bringing year-to-date free cash flow to $165 million, driven by $94 million of operating cash flow in the quarter and $222 million year-to-date. This represents more than a threefold increase versus the prior year period, reflecting both the normalization of capital intensity and continued discipline in working capital management.

Free cash flow conversion reached 121% of adjusted net income in the third quarter and 95% year-to-date, reinforcing our ability to convert earnings into cash. As a result, we are raising our fiscal year 2016 free cash flow guidance to $200 million to $220 million from $170 million to $210 million previously and now expect full year free cash flow conversion to exceed 80% and positioning us with significant flexibility to deploy capital in a balanced fashion. Cash on hand at the end of the third quarter was up 18%, and to $363 million since the start of this fiscal year despite deploying $75 million towards share repurchases earlier in the year and making additional strategic investments.

Subsequent to quarter end, we also invested $61 million to acquire Vivasure, further strengthening our interventional technologies portfolio and repurchased approximately 360,000 shares of Haemonetics stock for $25 million. Our capital structure remained unchanged at the end of the third quarter with total debt of approximately $1.2 billion and no borrowings under our $750 million revolving credit facility with a net leverage ratio as defined in our credit agreement at 2.37x EBITDA.

Back to you, Chris, for closing comments.

Thanks, James. Before we open the line for questions, I want to share a few summary thoughts. We are executing with discipline, delivering solid revenue performance, expanding margins, growing earnings and generating strong cash flow while advancing our strategic priorities and transforming our operating model. Year-to-date, our results are anchored by strong execution across two of our three growth engines, plasma and our hospital-based blood management technologies. These businesses are delivering consistent sales growth, continued share gains and increasing profitability.

That strength provides both stability and flexibility as we take targeted actions to strengthen the Interventional Technologies franchise. We remain firmly committed to returning this franchise to sustainable growth in fiscal 2027. The actions required to restore growth momentum are fully funded and largely within our control. As comparisons improve and our commercial organization rallies, the targeted actions underway will translate into stronger results, supported by the anticipated MVP XL label expansion and the U.S. launch of PerQseal Elite. We expect this business to drive growth and operating leverage while strengthening its competitive advantage.

Looking beyond revenue, our portfolio transformation continues to deliver meaningful results across the P&L. Since the start of this transformation nearly 4 years ago now, we have expanded adjusted operating margins by 770 basis points, including 200 basis points year-to-date, enabling earnings growth despite the nonrecurring plasma and divested blood center revenue. This earnings leverage reflects a structurally improved business model, and it is both durable and scalable positioning us to continue generating earnings growth ahead of revenue well into the future.

Lastly, our strong and consistent free cash flow conversion supports a resilient balance sheet and long-term value creation. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. And investing in organic growth, meeting upcoming debt obligations and opportunistically returning cash to shareholders while preserving balance sheet flexibility. Thank you. Operator, please open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions]. And our first question is going to come from Rohin Patel with JPMorgan.

Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to start off with plasma, and you had a nice quarter here. And maybe if you could just help parse out kind of the delta between collections, recovery and what the market growth looked like underlying as well as your share gains. And looking forward, I guess, I think we're turning -- as we turn our attention to fiscal year '27, obviously, you've had a big benefit from share gains this year. So how are you thinking about that next year? And kind of coupled with the collections growth, what can we expect to see on a more sustainable basis for plasma looking forward? And then I have a follow-up.

Good morning, Rohin, it's Chris. Thanks for the question. Yes, plasma, and I don't mean to sound boastful on this, but I don't think we've ever been in a better position on the plasma business than we are today. We talk about the trifecta which is a combination of share gains. And to your question specifically, for third quarter, and most of this year, share gains have carried us and that comes in two flavors. It's both us picking up share from our direct competitor, but it's also our customers enabled with the best technology, gaining share from their competitors.

And I think the dual benefit there is fully half of the growth you see here from us in the quarter. We still have, and this will really be the final quarter of annualizing the price benefits associated with rolling out that new technology. And then the third piece is collection volume. And what we saw on collection volume in the quarter is a further uptick above seasonality of demand there. We're now growing double digits, both in the U.S. and internationally in terms of collection volume. So the trifecta is, you will, of price share and volume.

As we turn to FY '27, this is a point in time. I'll just remind our listeners that this is our third quarter earnings call, we've got -- we'll talk more in May when we issued guidance for the broader business for FY '27. This is a point in time where we have the detailed sit down discussions with our customers and get a clear picture for their demand. What I can tell you at the early stages of those discussions, they're enthusiastic about the environment. They -- both their end market demand as well as the collections environment here in the U.S. and internationally, where they continue to outpace. So we're confident in Plasma's ability to play its role as part of our overall growth engine going forward.

And maybe the next one, question for James. I think as we look at margins in the quarter, you saw a sequential kind of step down in adjusted operating margin this quarter. I know you kind of mentioned some incremental expenses biomass hospital margins were about 200 basis points lower versus last quarter and about 100 basis points lower year-over-year. So that could have also contributed a bit. So I guess, as you look ahead, and specifically, I guess, longer term, where do you expect the leverage to come from with kind of a more challenged hospital business? And are you expecting kind of the same level of margin expansion that you saw in fiscal next year and beyond? And maybe it would be helpful if you could help frame kind of the puts and takes.

Yes, sure, Rohin. So overall, we are pleased with our margin expansion this year as it really underscores the quality of our portfolio. As you mentioned, we're up 60 basis points in the quarter. It's up 200 basis points year-to-date. And all businesses contributed to that expansion. I would just caution you on the quarterly performance by segment, that could be uneven just due to product mix and revenue timing, expense cadence and so forth. So we like to look at that more on a year-to-date or a trailing 9-month to 12-month basis. But overall, we're pleased with the way this has played out. Now as we move into the future, we'll look to see smaller increments in margin improvement.

So like the 200 basis points improvement that we saw this year that is going to begin to slow down as we get into the future. The increments in operating margin improvement will be less. There'll be 50 basis points or 100 basis points, something more in that range. But overall, there's still room to grow here operating margin. And I'll just touch on the point that you brought up on leverage. So yes, I would be if the hospital business as having a slower quarter, you're going to see a leverage impact on us. And we saw a bit of that in the quarter, but plasma was so strong, it was able to overcome that.

We also were able to overcome. We had a performance-based compensation increment in this quarter. due to the performance of the company overall for the year. And that also was a dynamic versus the quarter in the previous year as well. So that added to it as well. Just to close out, as we finish the year, we held our operating margin guidance at 26% to 27% range that we came out with at the beginning of the year. We may be towards the lower end of that range, and that's all pretty much related to Vivasure and the timing of expenses around the launch of PerQseal.

And the next question will come from Marie Thibault with BTIG.

Nice job on the quarter. Just wanted to ask one here, and it's really on the IVP business. I know that we're expecting to see a return to growth in fiscal year '27. Maybe you could just give us kind of more of a peak into what's actually happening on the ground? Is the competitor who was rather aggressive with pricing and free product. Is that sort of out of the market at this point? How has your sales team sort of found its footing? Any more details on all of that? And then any timing, I guess, on the MVP label expansion that you referenced?

Great. It's Chris, thank you. Yes, in the quarter, if I step back and look at IBT holistically, it's important to understand, and we we're focused on this as much as anything in the company right now in terms of returning that franchise to growth and a positive contribution. The negative in the quarter was fully of the 12% decline that we experienced was a function of esophageal pooling and the disruption from coupled with a leveling out of the OEM agreement that we think largely annualizes at this point.

So it's just important to keep that in mind, 8.5% of the 12% decline is attributable to those two factors. For vascular closure, it's our #1 focus. I've said this recently, that I want to make sure I just reiterate, we are confident we've got the right team. the strategy and the tactics they've put forth are the right ones to return to growth. That effort is fully funded, and you see that kind of in our current P&L. And at this point, we're just putting steps together to do the things that we need to do to be able to return and see that in our operating results as we get into FY '27 is that we're confident that we have the right things in place to do that. We definitely woke up the competition, and that comes in different flavors. But from where we sit, and I happen to be sitting with a group of our advisers, last night in electrophysiology, there's no question that the product is highly competitive.

It's a superior product to what's out there. And we've got the clinical support to back that up. One of the things that we're looking forward to is that MVP XL label expansion. It's with FDA. The dialogue has been very constructive. Not going to try to handicap exactly when the release might come. But it opens up a number of things for us when it does. And I think it will allow us to more broadly promote the product. It lets us work with a number of the and increasingly with the ASCs to be able to get the product on contract. And we think that top down as well as the bottom-up grassroots work that we're already doing, bodes well for to be an important part of the recovery to come.

And the next question will come from Joanne Wuensch with Citi.

Could you give us a little bit of color on the Vivasure acquisition. You talked about bringing the product to market in 2027. Anything that you learned from your initial investment that helps you position for that product launch? Or is there anything on the financial aspect of it that you can share at this stage?

Thanks, Joanne. I appreciate the question. We're excited about VASCADE and the PerQseal Elite product coming to market here shortly. We consummated and acted on our option because we really believe that this will meaningfully extend our leadership in vascular closure. It gives us a credible path to category leadership across small medium and now large bore procedures as well. It puts us squarely in structural heart with both TAVR and EVAR procedures, French openings that push into the mid-20s and products going to be indicated for that.

It's a really meaningful advance versus what's in the market today. So we're excited. We sized that at roughly a $300 million addressable market. 2/3 of it's here in the U.S. It sits, as I said, at the intersection of vascular closure and structural heart, which should be a true tuck-in opportunity for us. So we're gearing up for the launch, we are learning from things that went well and less well in our prior launches. And so we're taking a very measured approach. And it will be a stepwise progress as we go. Once we have the official approval from FDA, we'll be very clear about our plans, but it's going to be step-wise. We're excited about the longer-term potential but we're going to take the steps that we need early to position this product for long-term success.

As my follow-up question, there's a phrase you used during your opening remarks to deploy capital in a balanced fashion. And I was hoping you could provide some color on how you think about the planning capital at this stage.

Joanne, it's James a to take a pass it back. So when I think about capital deployment, we strive to be disciplined balanced and returns focused. That's how we think about it. It all starts with strong and growing free cash flow. That provides us the flexibility. We had 95% free cash flow conversion to date, over $200 million in free cash flow this year. So we're well positioned.

And for the future, that should continue. The most capital-intensive phase of our transformation is largely behind us. So our priorities remain clear. And really, they're unchanged. In the near term, we prioritize organic growth, we have some debt reduction coming up here with the convertible notes that are due here in March. And we also prioritize share buybacks. You saw us do some of that just here at the end of the quarter. So longer term, once IBT execution is restored, we then will look more towards the opportunity for additional M&A like Vivasure. But that's the overall framework about how we're thinking about capital deployment.

And the next question will come from David Rescott with Baird.

Great. I wanted to follow up on some of the comments around the plasma collection in a broader market growth. And curious to understand maybe the metrics or visibility you have into the forward-looking outlook for that segment. I think in the past, you've talked about how there can be ebbs and flows to the business or to the collections market. And I think prior to the past 2 quarters, you were maybe in that period of low to no growth. And now you've got 2 quarters of high single and now low double-digit seemingly market collection growth.

So I'm curious, one, and again, how you're gauging the sustainability of this accelerated period? And I guess if the ebb period was 6 or so quarters, if that's right, why would it be unreasonable to think that this elevated collection market growth you've seen now for 2 quarters should not sustain in the flow period, you will say, for a few more quarters?

Yes. Thanks for the question. I think you're right. And I think that's not dissimilar to how we are thinking about it. The -- we work backwards from the end market. When we look at the demand for immunoglobulin-based therapy, both primary and secondary immune deficiency as well as autoimmune diseases, there is meaningful unmet need where IG is unequivocally still the first-line therapy for a whole host of reasons. It works very well. It's cost-effective, et cetera. So we look at the end market demand, we listen carefully to what our customers are saying to their shareholders and work backwards from that.

That bodes very well, near, intermediate and longer term for this industry. When we step in and now look at what that will translate to in the inevitable cyclicality of collections and inventory levels, we -- our view is that this meaningful uptick in demand actually began 6 quarters ago. And we met the early stages of that when we rolled out Persona and a 10% yield enhancement across the industry. So that gives us confidence that where are we in the cycle. We're in a building phase, and we're absolutely enabling that for our customers with our technology.

In terms of where we go from here, we'll have those discussions. We'll get very clear, how many new centers, what's the volume demand, what are they looking at, and we'll back that into our forecast for FY '27. And at this stage, and I think we established this earlier in the year, we're going to guide to the things that we can control, and that's the share uptick in terms of new centers coming over, and it's a function of the price annualization. So that's what you see reflected in our guidance.

We're very happy that we've been able to guide upward with each successive quarter here. But in terms of the volume, I don't disagree with anything you've asserted, but we're not going to put that into our guidance at this stage because we don't control it directly.

Okay. That's helpful. And on VASCADE, I'm curious more on the vascular closure market I think you again called out the increasing PFA as part of a headwind in the basket business. if I heard that correctly. I think the latest updates we have at this point maybe is PSA and AF is 70% or so of the market in the U.S. And so therefore, the increasing utilization of PFA is now in theory, should have less of a magnitude of an impact on the broader electrophysiology market growth that's eligible for a vascular closure device. So interested to hear what your views are on maybe some of those PFA headwinds beginning to lap and whether the vascular closure market or the interest investment-case devices, is continuing to step higher into that as you lap the PSA conversion, maybe the VCD kind of market growth on a blended basis should begin to step back up to higher levels.

Dave, the effect you're calling out is really important. I think the PFA launch has been defining event and electrophysiology for [indiscernible] for sure. And some of it is just we talked about earlier, kind of sucking out all the oxygen from the room and being all consuming in terms of getting clinician mind share A lot of that has played through, as you highlight. There is an effect on going with the number of access sites, exactly where that will land.

We're still understanding because we're in new therapeutic adoption. We know that in some cases, it's a reduction in the number of access sites. It's certainly a change in the sizing, which is why the MVP XL product and the upcoming anticipated FDA release is so critical to be able to compete in that space. We are seeing an uptick in concomitant therapy between Afib and left atrial appendage, that's a net negative in terms of the access site. I say all that because it will affect the overall size affects the overall growth rate in the category in the near term. But as you highlight, as that levels out, and I'll leave it to you and others to kind of forecast exactly when that plays out.

But as that levels out, what you will see in terms of access site availability for us, which really determines the TAM is it will regress to the category's growth rate? And as near as we can tell, that category growth rate is at least mid-teens at this point, which is an uptick for us going forward and gives us optimism about our ability to return to growth in '27 and beyond. So we'll see. We'll work our way through it. We think we've got a really good product. And the main thing we need to do is execute in particular, head-to-head against our competition where we have lost share, it's driven the underperformance we've experienced year-to-date. We think it's entirely addressable. We think we have a better product and we need to make sure our execution matches that.

And our next question comes from Anthony Petrone with Mizuho.

Making sure you guys can hear me. Am I coming in okay?

Yes, we do.

Okay, great. Two questions. One, plasma, one, Chris, on plasma, we're hearing the competitor in the U.S., there have been issues. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that one of the flavors of share gains here is actually at the center level. and presumably donors moving away from the competitor wanting to donate on NexSys. So when you think about that, that's a risk for what's the latest thinking on the potential that PSL comes back to NexSys in some way? Is that a potential? If so, what do you think that can look like? And then I'll have a follow-up on IBT.

Yes. Anthony, thanks for the question. Yes, I made the assertion upfront that I don't think plasma has ever been stronger across multiple dimensions. And that starts with the quality of our relationships. And I think a number of things that the team did really well through the pandemic and the recovery is they were there for folks. No stock outs, no back orders. We never fail to make a delivery on the devices or the capital, the disposables. That continues.

We value our relationship with CSL as we do with all of our customers. We're delighted to have 100% of their international business to have their U.S. software on a long-term agreement. And so we'll continue to earn all of our customers' trust day in, day out. And I think that bodes really well for our trajectory going forward. Let me just leave it there.

Very helpful. And then on IBT, one of the drivers going forward here is side of service and ASCs are sort of a new channel here for electrophysiology pulmonary vein isolation specifically, it feels like that's where those surgeries are headed. But that seems like it's greenfield for vascular closure as well. So maybe just a little bit on ASC, like -- how penetrated are you there at the moment? And are those like new sites where really you can kind of gain new ground here going forward? And how does that play in the growth trajectory for VASCADE?

Yes. I mentioned that we had our electrophysiology advisory board here with us in Boston yesterday. And several of those clinicians are running some of the largest ASCs in the country. There are customers. We've done a bunch of things with them that I think bode well for our presence in the ASCs. When I take a step back, just to put a little flesh around the efforts we have underway one of the critical gaps that we identified earlier in the year is corporate accounts presence, both for ASCs as well as for IDMs.

And we've meaningfully strengthened that capability over the course of the year. We think what we offer in vascular closure particularly now that we have this full spectrum from 6 branch to 25 French is the opportunity to be their partner on vascular closure and increasingly push venous and arterial across the board. So the conversation is how does this fit in their operations, the speed of ambulation, the absence of narcotics the significant reduction in releases is all very powerful value prop for the ASCs. We think that establishes a new growth vector for us heading into FY '27. And we're going to be excited to capitalize on it.

And the next question will come from Mike Matson with Needham & Company.

So I wanted to ask one on interventional technologies, the savvy wire product. I didn't really hear any commentary on that. Can you talk about maybe what the growth was with that? And what the what you need to do to kind of make that the combo growth driver because it seems like a pretty unique and interesting product within that portfolio?

Yes, Mike, thanks for the question. Savvy wire is a mixed story for us at the moment. I called out this 70%, fully 8.5 points of the 12 points of decline in interventional was attributed to esophageal cooling and the OEM portion of Savvy wire. And so we have a very good relationship that we inherited with the OpSens acquisition, where we're providing the product for the Impella pump. There's been some releveling of that. There's a dual manufacturing site and kind of rebalancing. That's largely played through. We may have one more quarter of that, that we have to work through. But that will ultimately regress to the growth of the underlying pump market, which we think is mid-teens or better, and we're excited about that. In the near term and in the quarter, it was absolutely a headwind for us.

If I flip over to the other side of the Guidewire business, the actual structural heart play very powerful, and we see good uptake there. The bifurcation of our efforts between closure and structural heart Guidewire has helped, although it's still in fairness, early innings from -- into that focus. We're cautiously optimistic. We think that will be a big part of what drives us in '27, but we need to see that come through. Interestingly, we don't talk much about Opto wire, which is the other part of the Guidewire business. But one of the things we're hearing back to the prior question about the ASCs, Opto wire is very attractively priced for what it delivers. It has a really clean value proposition. And seems to be gaining early traction with the ASCs. We hope to be able to build upon that going forward.

Okay. And then Blood center was positive this quarter, and I think you said it was positive year-to-date. So are we now at a point where that business can stay in the green in terms of growth from here, especially given the plasma part of the business seems like it's seeing stronger growth?

Yes, it's a tale of two halves as we go through that. I think as it pertains to plasma apheresis. This is done by the blood center customers. So as an example, it's Egypt, but I could say the same thing about France or Canada or Turkey. We are working with local blood center customers that have partnered with one of the larger cell sourcing fractionators help them get collected and kind of drive forward. And so we offer them a turnkey proposition.

That's what's going to drive the continued performance in blood center globally. The other half of the business is the remaining apheresis on platelets and red cells. And invariably, that toggle is up or down, it's very subject to order timing. And in general, it's a stagnant market. We do well in that market. They're making a really -- through the rationalization their contribution, you'll see that in some of our breakout tables has meaningfully improved. So they're playing their role in our corporate strategy for margin expansion, but they just don't have a long-term growth potential because the market doesn't have the long-term growth. potential. So we'll take a hard look at that before we guide for '27, but we will see a relative difference between capacity of that business going forward.

And the next question will come from Michael Petusky with Barrington Research.

Hey, Chris. So the guide for hospitals for fiscal '26 seems to imply that you guys deliver the best quarter in hospital on a reported basis. of the year. And I'm just curious, is that mostly a function of sort of the order timing issue reversing? Or are you seeing meaningful sort of clawbacks on some of the business that you may have lost in Invesco closure. I'm just curious, it's a fairly bullish forecast relative to what you guys just reported. I'm just curious what's driving that?

Yes, Mike, thanks for the question. You're exactly right. It is a bullish forecast for the fourth quarter. We felt comfortable guiding to the low end of the existing range because predominantly of the strength that we're seeing in blood management technologies this quarter, right? TEG continues to push forward. We're midstream here in this take 5,000 system upgrade. We have line of sight to the capital there that has us enthusiastic. And then we're seeing this really meaningful uptake on a tag disposable basis, we're generating roughly twice the usage from the existing TEG successes that we did even just 2 years ago.

So BMT is going to have to carry the water for us for sure in the fourth quarter well into the double digits. But to your question, we also need to see a beginning of the stabilization in IBT. And I think some of that is order timing. Some of that is head-to-head competition where RECONNECT we're clawing back things we lost or stabilizing. And we talk a lot about the investments we need to make in interventional technologies. I've called those out repeatedly. I feel like we've made the further dilution or outflows there. You'll see certain things. We've guaranteed some of these highly competitive territories on a quota basis to get the right people in the seat and get them motivated. So there's some expense associated with that. That's already reflected in our P&L.

We're also being purposeful about things that would encourage new usage without wrecking our margins. So we're going to continue to make those investments. We think we'll begin to see the stabilization of that in the fourth quarter. So we pair the losses, not entirely, but partially. And the combination of those 2 things, really strong, continued strong performance in BMT with a beginnings of stabilization in IBT should get us to land where we want to land for the year. But also set us up nicely for growth in FY '27 across the hospital franchise.

Okay. Great. And if I could follow up, and you may have partially answered this question in your response just now. But you guys a couple of quarters ago when you sort of went into meaningful issues in mast closure sort of called out 50 accounts where you felt like, hey, we sort of got our lunch in some of these accounts. And obviously, you put in a lot of changes very quickly, it has a response. And I'm just curious, I assume that you're probably tracking data from those 50 accounts that you guys identified 6 months ago. And I'm just curious, are you at this point, sort of trading punches -- or are you still losing a little there, but do you feel like you're sort of seeing some anecdotal evidence of the turnaround? Or what are you seeing in those accounts that you identified a couple of quarters ago?

Yes. Mike, the tagline, I assure you we are giving at least as good as we get these days. One of the things we've done is really strengthen our commercial operations, and we have a much better handle through some of the obvious tools, sales force, et cetera, that track that performance. So we are paying very close attention to the individual account wins and losses and win backs are super critical for our longer-term success. We have two very different competitors.

One is the established industry standard. And they've meaningfully beefed up their commercial presence. They're working through their corporate accounts team with their new product launch in AFib. So that's formidable, and we want to be mindful of that. We think there's a role for us as a more innovative highly legitimate #2 in the category. On the other hand, yes, we talk about the mix product and some of the things they did early on to secure a foothold. We made it easy on them. I can assure you, there's nothing easy about it in that category today. We have a team that's that fit for task that's out there fighting for what's rightfully theirs.

We value the win backs highly, and I can tell you the balance has shifted and that's what gives us optimism on a go-forward basis that it was never the product. and it was never the market. And therefore, we control this outcome if we're committed to it. And I assure you, we have no higher priority as a company right now than to return IBT to growth, and that starts with vascular closure, especially in AFib.

And the next question will come from Andrew Cooper with Raymond James.

Maybe first, I want to follow up on something you just said there, Chris, when you said the balance has shifted. Can you give us a little bit of a sense for -- what is it that you're seeing that is telling you that, that balance has shifted because I think we've all sort of known for some time that the VASCADE product, MVP and XL are well thought of by clinicians. And so when we look at the data, when we look at the performance, I don't think that piece is what's changed. So what informs that view that the balance has shifted kind of ahead of seeing the volume and the revenues showing that shift?

Yes. I think the bifurcation that we put in place earlier in the year is really starting to yield the results we anticipated. We have 200 field-based representatives who get out of bed every day and think first, second and third about closure. And we know that more than 2/3 of that opportunity today is in electrophysiology in -- for MVP and for MVP XL. So we're tracking how those folks are spending their time and their win rates, and we're increasingly confident about that. we still have gaps in our own field force, open territories where we had faced the most stiff competition, and our folks weren't able to respond for whatever set of reasons. So as we close those vacancies, as we watch these new reps come up the learning curve, it's really powerful.

And I don't think we've said this publicly before. But at this point, fully 60% of our field team has been in their territory in their current role less than 6 months. That's an important number to keep in mind as you gauge our competitive response, there is a learning curve. These are very talented individuals when they were hired because they were fit for purpose for the task we need from them. and they have a faster uptick than you would otherwise expect. But there's still an uptick.

And we've got to give this team an opportunity to really get traction. I think as I called out earlier, some of the key account work we're doing with the IDMs is providing them the air cover to be able to go in and pull through the business. And I think that's another place where we were getting out-executed by the competition. We've turned the tide on that. And I'm pleased to say we've turned the tide on that without meaningfully compromising our gross margin, our price points. We have a great product when it's properly presented and has the appropriate air cover, we win. And that's what you should expect from us going forward.

Okay. That's super helpful and look forward to sort of seeing the fruits of all that come together. Shifting a little bit to plasma. I did just want to ask, and I think maybe you touched on it a little, but when we look at the fiscal 3Q going into the fiscal 4Q in 5 numbers, it looks like a little bit bigger than the typical seasonal step down in fiscal 4Q. So I just want to get a sense for, is that conservatism? Was there any stocking around some of these share gains or anything to think about on. I know you had that chunky software renewal earlier in the year. Just trying to get a sense for anything that would explain maybe that step down or is it really just trying to take a prudent approach to close out the year?

Yes. The prudence is the exact right work, Andrew. We had a really good third quarter, obviously, above historic seasonality, #1 driver in the quarter and now year-to-date were the share gains. So there was nothing around order timing or one-offs that you need to factor in there. It's just us guiding on the things we can directly control, further share uptick in the final stages of annualization from last year's technology rollout collection volume we'll leave it to you guys to figure out what you think is the right number to plug in there. Our guidance reflects what we can control.

Thank you. I am showing no further questions in the queue. This will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Hi, everyone. My name is Rohin Patel. I'm a med tech analyst at JPMorgan. It's my pleasure to have Haemonetics here with us. And I'd like to introduce CEO, Chris Simon, for a presentation.

Thanks, Rohin, and thank you to JPMorgan for hosting the conference and giving us an opportunity to discuss our strategy and plans for long-term shareholder value creation. Thank you all for joining, both here in the room and on the WebEx.

First point, just a necessary disclosure. Remarks will include some forward-looking statements and some non-GAAP numbers. So the usual safe harbor and risk factors apply. Please see our SEC filings for additional details.

If I step back and try to share with you Haemonetics at a glance, the way I would articulate it is that we're the global leader in plasma apheresis. We see that as a $1 billion addressable market growing at least in the mid-single digits. It provides a highly durable source of EBITDA, very attractive return on invested capital and robust free cash flow. We value our leadership position globally in that franchise.

Unfortunately, that business is also characterized by systemic risk and cyclicality. So to further accelerate our growth and reduce the volatility, we made a decision to diversify into attractive med-surg markets. We want to do so while avoiding competition with the therapeutic category leaders in those markets. We do this by acquiring and growing a portfolio of scalable, therapeutically agnostic enabling technologies in areas like in vitro diagnostics and vascular closure.

As a result of that effort, today, we have leadership positions not only in Plasma, but in Blood Management Technologies and Interventional Technologies, which are really our 3 core product platforms. Additionally, as the slide highlights, fully 3/4 of our revenue is generated right here in the U.S. from products that are manufactured here in the U.S. or elsewhere in North America, which provides a natural buffer both for geopolitical and for macroeconomic uncertainty.

In terms of our transformational growth, we think about this as a 4-year LRP that ran from the beginning of FY '22, our fiscal year back -- and then completes in one additional quarter here in fiscal '26. The focus on that LRP has been about building high-quality, sustainable growth engines driving revenue, margin and cash flow expansion. And they are the 3 goals and the 3 metrics that define us, again, revenue, margin expansion and free cash flow.

Over the LRP, we've made meaningful structural changes in the portfolio and to the business. We think this has created a durable recurring revenue base with clinically differentiated technology. It's a significantly higher-margin business, higher-margin revenue base from attractive supportive markets. And we're now beginning to create meaningfully greater operating leverage as we continue to improve our scale and efficiency. We have significant momentum and there is an opportunity for real long-term value creation yet to be unlocked.

In 2022, we committed to an ambitious set of goals against these priorities, revenue, operating margin, income and cumulative free cash flow, all while transitioning from what was then our largest customer worldwide, which represented over $100 million in revenue and roughly 1/3 of our adjusted earnings at the time. Here we are 15 of the 16 quarters through that LRP, and we believe the performance speaks for itself.

We expected now at this point, in the midpoint of our current guidance, 8% total revenue compound annual growth rate or 13% organic revenue when you separate out that one customer transition and some other noncore divestitures. We have improved our operating income margin by 770 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion at the midpoint of our current guidance. In fact, through the first half of the year and our most recent quarter, we were already at 26.3% operating income margin with additional expansion anticipated in the second half of the year.

Adjusted EPS is expected to compound at roughly 17%. That's been supported by pricing discipline and productivity as well as important mix change in revenue and volume. We've also, on a trailing 12-month basis, we have a 92% cash to adjusted earnings conversion ratio, which we think speaks to the vitality and the optionality of our balance sheet now and going forward.

We believe this portfolio transformation is laying the foundation for sustainable growth going forward. In FY '22, when we issued the plan, 30% of our revenue came from lower-growth, lower-margin businesses. In FY '26, our core high-growth, high-margin businesses now represent fully 85% of our revenue stream. This ongoing shift has been both deliberate and disciplined. And we exited or deemphasized noncore assets and relocated capital and talent to platforms with the largest addressable markets, faster innovation cycles and structurally higher margins.

The impact is increasingly clear in both mix and momentum. With the portfolio transitions largely behind us and the mix structurally aligned to this higher growth portfolio, we expect the next phase of value creation will continue to drive sustained earnings power, robust cash and improving returns on invested capital. Through the process of diversification, we've changed, and then I've heard from some we're that become complex. From where we sit, we don't see it as very complex.

In fact, we run a simple and highly focused growth model. Most revenue and all of our growth comes from 3 core product platforms. Each of these platforms holds a clear leadership position in their market: NexSys PCS for plasma, TEG 6s in viscoelastic testing and VASCADE product family, MVP in particular, in electrophysiology. All 3 compete in large and growing markets and are supported by a high-velocity innovation pipeline that we are absolutely committed to investing in, enabling sustainable above-market growth.

I'll start with Plasma. It's the foundational earnings and free cash flow engine for our corporation. It's a durable business that performs well in pretty much any economic cycle where we are the undisputed market leader. Global plasma collections addressable market which excludes China is approximately $1 billion today, and we lead with something now exceeding 50% market share, supported by deep customer engagement and technological differentiation in our core platform.

And demand remains strong and durable in support of a $30 billion global bio-pharmaceutical industry. Despite progress at the end market with products like the recombinant, IG remains irreplaceable for many patients, especially those suffering from primary and secondary immune deficiency, which is growing in the double digits. We have the technology leadership position. We are, in fact, and continue to be the industry standard.

We're the most trusted partner and the only provider of a fully bidirectionally integrated plasma collection platform. Our technology is purpose-built and designed around customer key performance indicators, yield, efficiency, donor safety and the donor experience, ultimately leading to a lower cost to collect and an improved cost per gram collected. And of course, the most important metric perhaps is favorable donor retention.

Our NexLynk DMS is a strategic differentiator and essentially the secret sauce of that platform. We have the best DMS software here in the U.S. market. It is bidirectionally integrated with NexSys and it materially improves workflows, throughput, real-time operational decision-making and center level productivity. Recent NexLynk competitive wins have solidified 80% share here in the U.S. DMS market and it extends and expands our plasma margins, providing operational visibility into over 1,000 customer centers, a great source of renewed innovation for the company.

Our late-stage pipeline that we'll talk about more later this coming year is, as I said, purpose-built to extend this leadership. We are at a point in the market where collection growth is normalizing, it's reaccelerating. And we're benefiting from strong end market demand. We're benefiting from share gains. And we're benefiting from premium pricing for what is widely viewed by our customers as superior technology. In the long run, we expect this franchise to continue to deliver above-market revenue growth to expand margins and to provide a durable source of free cash flow to fund our ongoing growth.

If I shift gears now and talk a little bit about our hospital-based med-surg businesses. First up is TEG. TEG is the standard for viscoelastic testing worldwide. It is our second largest growth driver and it is our largest and fastest-growing med-surg hospital product. It again is a durable, high-performing business in our portfolio, consistently delivering double-digit annual growth. And despite our success, the opportunity ahead is equally substantial. This is a large, underpenetrated and growing market. Additional indications, additional regulatory and clinical support will continue to advance our viscoelastic footprint.

So TEG, as I said, largest, fastest-growing hospital product. Viscoelastic testing is a structurally attractive $400 million-plus addressable market. The market itself is growing in the mid-single digits and we've only really penetrated what we believe to be approximately 60% of the eligible procedures. So there's meaningful room to go. The recent global launch of our heparinase neutralization cartridge has created an inflection point, solidifying and reinforcing this potential to continue to grow at double digits as we expand adoption and push further into international opportunities.

Why we win with TEG? Category leadership and clinical differentiation. It's the industry standard. Of the used viscoelastic testing, we have roughly 45% share. Of the head-to-head competition in viscoelastic testing, that share is closer to 75%. It delivers real-time actionable coagulation insights that improve clinical outcomes and reduce the cost to treat because when they make a transfusion, they make it with exactly the right product and often they don't need to make the transfusion to get a better clinical outcome with patients. It's an exciting product. It's at the sweet spot of growth in health care.

TEG is also very capital efficient for hospitals. It meets a high clinical unmet need with relatively low system cost and it enables consistent capital placement even in tight CapEx cycles. As we grow and expand, we'll continue to leverage the TEG Manager software platform. It's a platform that has the potential to meaningfully drive physician heuristics. As we continue to advance the digitization of that platform with AI and other applications, it just gets smarter and more relevant. Our market leadership position helps reinforce that. We think it goes from strength to strength as we advance the platform.

The third pillar of our 3 core platforms is vascular closure, particularly in electrophysiology. It represents our largest total market opportunity globally at roughly $2.5 billion. And our initial focus, our primary place to compete and win is in electrophysiology, which we estimate to be approximately a $600 million serviceable market, including the U.S., Japan and select European countries. We focus on the top 600 accounts in here in the U.S. They represent 90% of the procedures. It's very concentrated. If you add an additional 200 hospital accounts in Japan, we've really covered the nucleus of the market.

So it tends to be a very efficient opportunity for us to grow and expand our presence. We have advanced vascular closure as an opportunity set is meaningfully underpenetrated even within our largest accounts and creating a clear multiyear opportunity for us to continue growth and expansion.

Why we believe we win in vascular closure? Again, it's clinical and, in this case, economic differentiation. VASCADE, VASCADE MVP and VASCADE MVP XL deliver clear clinical advantage and economic benefit to the clinicians and the hospitals that they operate in, and it is now supported by a large body of data with growing and further adoption.

We help in a meaningful way reduce the need for medication, particularly opioids for the fully resorbable closure. Ambulation has been reduced from 6 hours to 2 hours. 90-plus percent of the patients go home the same day. And the hospital is benefiting from those economics in that workflow.

The introduction of MVP XL expands our relevance across emerging EP technologies and large-bore access, including both PFA and left atrial appendage closure. Expanded label which is underway will further strengthen our clinical evidence base. It will reinforce our leadership position and widen our competitive opportunity.

We will focus continually on those top 600 accounts. As I said, they're 90% of the opportunity, and there's a meaningful additional growth play for us. We are looking to expand geographically, particularly in markets like Japan where our safety-first profile is exceptionally well adopted. We also continue to expand the addressable market through additional clinical applications that we'll talk more about later this year.

We recently, last week, announced the acquisition of Vivasure, which unlocks an additional attractive TAM for the corporation. We exercised an option that was 2 years in the process, outlaid an additional approximately $60 million with a series of potential earn-outs that get us what we believe is a differentiated large-bore closure platform with minimal dilution. Vivasure should extend our leadership across a full spectrum of advanced closure from small-bore ranging up now through large-bore and, ultimately, for the 26 French OD, outer diameter, opportunity.

As I said, we think it's a $300 million addressable market in large-bore primarily for TAVR and for EVAR procedures, adjacencies where we can leverage our existing vascular closure and structural heart efforts to meaningfully improve our relevance. It also should help strengthen our IDN and ASC enterprise value proposition and the contracting work we have underway there. The company itself is based in Ireland. It provides perhaps future flexibility as we continue to expand the IVT franchise.

And the product that we're most excited about is PerQseal Elite. It's currently under FDA review for U.S. release with launch timing aligned to our FY '27 growth aspirations.

If I just talk about that clinical profile for a second. Based on the most recent trial data, we think this is going to be a simple one-step deployment for what is a fully absorbable product with no need to pre-close. There are 0% major complications throughout a 30-day follow-up period and near instantaneous hemostasis with a median time to hemostasis of 0.0 minutes. It's tuck-in innovation, as I said, that will leverage our existing footprint and we hope will extend both our vascular closure and structural heart leadership.

If I now step back at the total company level and look at the financials that we've consistently delivered here across this most recent LRP, at a company level, the growth has been consistently compelling. Transformational growth strategy, as we've outlined it, is portfolio evolution, investments in category leadership and execution across our 3 growth drivers. All 3 of our businesses are contributing to margin expansion, and there's room to further evolve our portfolio and improve operating leverage in the years to come.

We believe the trajectory of earnings and free cash flow that we are generating is an example and a testimony of the compounding impacts of this high-margin portfolio, operating leverage and managerial discipline. We've more than doubled our free cash flow over this period, which we believe is now more normalized and reflects the strength and the optionality for this business going forward.

As we think about capital allocation, that free cash flow has given us an opportunity to really invest heavily in this business. Over the course of our transformation these past 4 years, we've deployed $1.3 billion of capital across 4 clear priorities: organic growth, particularly R&D and commercial expansion, M&A and then shareholder returns, both in the form of debt repayment and getting capital back to our shareholders through buybacks.

We are now studying carefully the returns, and we believe those returns on invested capital are catching up to our long-term growth goals, originally probably hovering in the mid-single digits at 6% to 7%, now up double digit, 11% or better, as we continue to move forward.

So we know we have work to do there, but we do so from a position of strength. The newly acquired products are getting back on track for the course of the next LRP. And we believe all of our investments will deliver certainly double-digit return on invested capital. So we're excited about where we are. We're excited about where we're going, and look forward to answering any and all of your questions.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chris, for the presentation. I guess I wanted to start off with a bit of a broader question. You're currently in the last year of your LRP, as you had mentioned. And I know you plan on hosting an Analyst Day later this year, so I don't want to front run that. But are you able to talk a little bit more about your growth outlook for the business over the next, call it, 5 years?

I guess you obviously are kind of making acquisitions with the Vivasure deal in Hospital. Plasma is performing quite well. But fiscal '27 is probably going to be the first year of normalized kind of ex-CSL growth, you could call it, in a while. And so I think it would be helpful just to get a sense for how you're thinking about some of the puts and takes on revenue and margin in fiscal '27 and beyond.

Yes. For us, we run on a fiscal year that wraps up March 31. So the immediate focus is finishing this year strong and delivering fully. We'll obviously talk more about FY '27 and the new long-range plan when we come out with guidance in May. What I can say is this focus that we have, operating discipline execution around the 3 core platforms, really defines us.

And we were excited -- are excited to do the Vivasure deal that we think will be a meaningful benefit to the vascular closure and intervention cardiology franchise. But our primary focus will continue to be organic investments against those 3 core platforms and really delivering what we think is now exciting growth platform.

As I said, we like what we're doing in Plasma. The Plasma franchise has never been stronger. That provides a durable nucleus for us. And then we'll continue to build and expand and improve the execution of our hospital-based med-surg businesses as part of that growth.

Got it. Is there any kind of color maybe that you can provide on margins as we look -- and earnings, I guess, as we look beyond this fiscal year? I know just with some of the puts and takes around the cash balance and interest expense as well as you're making some good progress on gross and operating margins. So maybe just qualitatively, how are you thinking about operational improvements as well as some of the below-the-line considerations?

Yes. Thanks for that, Rohin. I'm joined by James and Olga, our CFO and Head of Investor Relations. Maybe I'll let James answer the margin question.

Yes, sure. So we're real pleased with our operating margin expansion over the past several years. You saw the statistics that Chris just put up there, getting almost 800 basis points of margin expansion over the past 4 years, which was mostly driven by gross margin expansion. It was -- you saw the 3 growth engines that Chris put up there. And basically, we had portfolio evolution here to really focus on those 3 main platforms. And once we did that, our gross margins accelerated pretty dramatically and that drove the operating margin improvement over this past horizon that we've just been through.

Now in the future, I think what we could look forward to is now that we've been through what I would call an era of gross margin expansion, I think the focus now changes to operating leverage. Gross margin will continue to expand, although it will be, I think, smaller in size. And the real future is looking at how our revenues grow quicker than expenses. What we think we've done here is built out a cost base and a foundation that's the right amount of investment for future growth. And if that's the case, then our operating expenses don't need to grow as -- should not grow as nearly as quickly as our revenue.

So as that plays out in the future, whether it's fiscal '27 or beyond, you should see some continued margin expansion. It may not be in these chunk-sized increments that we've seen previously, think more in the 50 to 100 basis points margin improvement. But there's still a ways to go in this business, and we're looking forward to continuing to generate that improvement into next year and beyond.

Yes. Just to put an exclamation point on it, Rohin. As you well know, through the first half of this current fiscal year, we are north of 26% on operating income margin. And that expansion, that improvement is great.

Keep in mind, we did that while transitioning more than $150 million of revenue from that customer transition and $53 million of additional divestitures. So we've trimmed the top line necessarily by over $150 million, more than 10% of our revenue, and we've been able to drive the margin expansion and meaningful double-digit growth in earnings per share in that same period.

Got it. No, that was very helpful color. I do want to move on to Vivasure. I think it's top of mind, obviously, given your recent announcement. And congratulations on the deal.

Maybe just to start, can you just help us frame this opportunity in the context of your IVT franchise strategically, but also kind of what's the incremental revenue opportunity look like for you? From a competitive standpoint, why do you feel as though this product is differentiated? And what is your strategy, I guess, for launch in fiscal '27, I believe, is what you kind of mentioned?

Yes. So our med-surg growth strategy is to bring differentiated, meaningful innovation in enabling technology. So we're not in the heart valve business. We're in the access or closure to heart valve opportunities with something like Vivasure. When we look at that, we think this is a really good example of where we can expand our leadership in closure, in this case, in the large-bore segment. We think this is roughly a $300 million market growing certainly in the mid- to high single digits with TAVR and EVAR.

What we have here is a fully absorbable, sutureless, implant-free design with no need to pre-close. As we go out and look at the market and the unmet need, we think this checks many, if not all of those boxes. And so the trial data that was submitted to FDA back in the fall had 0 major complications through 30-day follow-up and immediate median time to hemostasis. That should severely advance the opportunity set.

We think it's kind of a classic tuck-in opportunity that will fit very neatly at the intersection of vascular closure and structural heart. And we were able to do this through what we internally describe as outsourced R&D. We exercised the option because to Vivasure's credit, they had met all of their major milestones. We're at a point now where we believe we'll get the release from FDA in FY '27 at a point in time where we expect our sales force to be ready and committed to driving that growth.

I guess how are you positioning the sales force for the upcoming -- I mean, I guess you have some time, but for the launch in fiscal '27 just given the priorities across IVT today? Obviously, you guys, you have kind of a diverse business with an array of products. And so I just want to get a sense for how you're prioritizing all the products now that you've kind of made the decision to acquire Vivasure.

Yes, thanks for that. Look, it's no secret. We've struggled through the first half of this fiscal year with our Interventional Technologies performance. If I could take a step back and address that because it's important context to answer your question directly.

I think three things happened to us that we now understand a lot more fully. One is that as amazing and powerful as the PFA adoption cycle has been, it has been a disruptive influence. I've seen a lot that somehow we're on the wrong side of that technological advancement. That's not true. There will be a change in access sites, I'm sure we'll talk about that perhaps here today.

But the reality is the disruption is PFA taking all the oxygen out of the room such that other technologies were put on the back burner, including our vascular closure opportunity set. So the power of the adoption and the speed of which is such that we expect that to begin to normalize next year. And as it does, we think that kind of settles the landscape for us to get back on our front foot and compete.

I think the second thing that's been brought to the surface is while we had great speed with adoption through the first 70%, 75% of the T600 accounts, the remainder are all affiliated mostly with IDNs, GPOs, et cetera. And the absence within Haemonetics of a fit-for-task corporate account capability really came back to hurt us, particularly in this environment where PFA was so disruptive and value access committees were busy focusing on the great new technology. We just didn't have presence or relevance with them.

And then the third thing is just very straightforward. We woke up 2 very aggressive competitors. And the team that was purpose-built for medical education and adoption, they found themselves in hand-to-hand combat here that perhaps not fully prepared for. We are addressing all 3 of those. That is our first priority. We have no higher priority as a corporation. We've talked about half a dozen levers we are pulling to address it. I'm happy to go through any and all of them.

We talked about green shoots last quarter. I want to be clear about that. The green shoots are operational. The quality of the team we've put forth, the revamp and focused effort, to your question, we've bifurcated our efforts so that it's 80% focused on closure, over 200 feet on the street driving forward with our closure portfolio. They will pick up responsibility when it comes for the Vivasure product. We have the other 20%, which is roughly 45 people, focused on structural heart and driving our presence there. We think Vivasure helps make us more relevant in that space.

But the bifurcation, still relatively new, taking hold. It's reflected in comp plans, et cetera. And we'll use compensation to make sure we have the appropriate focus and mind share. As I said, operationally, we like what we're observing. From a results perspective, it's going to be entirely an FY '27 event, right? It's just these -- changing your corporate accounts program is great. There's a cycle, in some cases, a multiyear cycle for contracting. We're in that cycle, but it will take time.

As I said, we don't have any concern about the long-term opportunity set, the underlying growth. The beauty of a category like this with the benefits that PFA has brought to it is we've taken what was a high-single, low double-digit grower to something that's closer to the mid-teens. As the dust settles, the growth rate will regress to the mean. It's a very attractive mean for us. And so stay tuned. We'll have more to say when we guide for FY '27. But I think this team and the work we've already done prepares us well for PerQseal Elite when it comes.

Got it. No, that's really helpful. And maybe if we have time at the end, we can circle back to Hospital and IVT. But I do want to spend some time on Plasma. This has been quite strong for you over the course of fiscal '26. You're taking a fair amount of share from competitors. You managed to get some price last year, and that's continuing to some extent as well this year. And then you also have collections starting to normalize potentially.

So maybe if you could just talk a little bit about what you're seeing in Plasma, what you saw over the first half of fiscal '26 and how that's trending as of December, January into the second half. Can you talk about kind of the relative growth contribution between share gains, pricing and collections as we look further out into fiscal '27?

I know there's a bit of a wide variance in consensus Plasma forecast for fiscal '27 and beyond. So maybe it would be helpful if you could help frame that in the context of these factors.

Yes. Thanks, Rohin. Look, our Plasma franchise, I think, back over the last decade has never been stronger. Based on the midpoint of our current guidance, it will be larger. It is faster growing. It is more profitable. And it is more diverse than it has been at any point in time in history. In fact, no individual customer is more than 10% of our total revenue. And the top 3 customers are now less than 25%, which we think is a testament to the diversification.

We are well positioned for continued growth. This year has been really the first time I've observed what we describe internally as the trifecta, which is share gains based on superior technology. It's a price premium for that technology that our customers are glad to pay because of the benefits it drives within their operations. And as you highlight, we are now seeing a normalization and a return to growth. In the second quarter of this year, the U.S. market grew high single digits. The international market continues to grow double digits.

So we're firing on all 3 dimensions right now, and that's really powerful. You can't always expect that to be the case as we go forward. So when we get ready to guide for FY '27, we'll drill down into each of those 3 dimensions and talk about what we see going forward. It's premature to comment on it now simply because this is the time of year where we roll up our sleeves and sit down and have candid discussion with customers about how many new centers, what level of incentives, what's realistic in terms of additional share capture, et cetera.

And so we'll put flesh around that in the next 90 days. But I don't want to miss the forest for the trees here. Plasma has never been better, and we expect to continue that trajectory.

Got it. And just to kind of talk about the competitive advantage in Plasma a little bit more. You talked a bit about the DMS and the 80% share that you have with customers for DMS specifically in the U.S. So maybe if you could just discuss like what's the source of your moat in Plasma?

How are you investing in kind of ensuring that integration is as smooth as possible and kind of customers and retention, customers are sticking with your platform over the long term and retention looks good? And just like what is the source of that innovation and how are you thinking about maintaining that?

Yes. I'd highlight 3 things. I think the company's performance long term, right, multi-decade, but certainly through the pandemic and importantly the recovery from the pandemic, where we grew 40% and 20% in those 2 years, the fact that we were there for all of our customers established the company as the supply partner the industry knows and trusts.

And it really, because we completed the upgrade cycle to NexSys, helped these customers get first-hand experience with what is, and this is my second point, superior technology. We talk about yield. We talk speed. We talk about safety. And we talk about the aggregate donor experience, We have a very strong body of evidence to suggest that we're unrivaled on those dimensions. And I think that's what you see with our share gains that we've picked up here, particularly in the last 2 years. And I'm highlighting our major plasma customers but also some of our major blood center customers as well.

And then I think the third piece that I would highlight is the NexLynk DMS. It's the only stand-alone 510(k) approved plasma software. And we have 80% share of the market at this point. And when it's bidirectionally connected with the device itself, the platform is just truly exceptional on those key dimensions. And I think as the industry becomes more and more sophisticated about donor recruitment, donor retention, AI applications for how to think through what the optimal offering is, we're talking increasingly about cost per gram, beyond cost per liter but cost per gram, and working jointly with our customers on a portfolio of innovation initiatives that will take that leadership to another level over the next decade.

Got it. And then with a minute or so left, I do want to touch on capital allocation. I think the cash outflow for Vivasure was roughly $60 million. I believe you've also started to kind of pursue more share buybacks. Obviously, there's reinvestment opportunity as well and potentially future M&A.

So maybe if you could just talk about your priorities for capital allocation from here on out just in the context of both what you've done over the past year as well as your priorities moving forward.

Sure. I'll let James take the first cut at that.

Yes, absolutely. So the #1 priority for us always has been and the first call on capital for us is organic, right? You heard Chris allude to some of these things, right, whether it was innovation in Plasma, it's improving and sustaining those 3 growth engines that we talked about. So that's always #1.

I would say M&A has been #2 here historically, and you saw that with Vivasure this past quarter. Apart from that, though, I think M&A will be paused while we continue to work on the improvements in IVT that Chris just referenced.

And #3 is share buyback and return of capital to shareholders. That's something we've been very active with, $225 million in the past year. And we'll continue to be opportunistic about that, even at these levels where we are today.

However, I think the other key point that we have to address is that there's a $300 million maturity in our convertible debt, which was 0% that's coming due here in at the end of March. So we're going to be smart and disciplined about paying down our debt, and that represents another capital deployment opportunity that we'll focus on.

And then we spoke a bit earlier about earnings trajectory for next year. That will -- while we'll probably not be able to pay all of it down with our existing cash balance, that will leave likely some tail of that on our revolver. So that might bump up some interest expense going to the next year. So we need to be cognizant about that. But that's the big picture. That's the way we'll continue to pursue capital deployment here.

Great. Well, thank you. It seems like we're out of time. But I appreciate everyone for joining, and thanks to the team for taking the time as well.

Thanks, Rohin.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Second Quarter 2026 Haemonetics Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instruction].

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Olga Guyette, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us for Haemonetics Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call and Webcast.

I'm joined today by Chris Simon, our CEO; and James D'Arecca, our CFO.

This morning, we released our second quarter and year-to-date fiscal 2026 results and updated full year fiscal '26 guidance. The materials, including our earnings release, Form 10-Q and supplemental earnings presentation are available on our Investor Relations website and through this morning's press release.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we will use both organic and reported revenue growth rates. In case of organic growth rates, those exclude the impact of FX, the divestiture of the whole blood product line and the exit of certain liquid solution products. Organic growth ex CSL also excludes the impact of the previously disclosed transition of CSL's U.S. disposable business.

We'll also refer to other non-GAAP financial measures to help investors understand Haemonetics' ongoing business performance. Please note that these measures exclude certain charges and income items. A full list of excluded items, reconciliations to our GAAP results and comparisons with the prior year periods are provided in our earnings release.

Our remarks today include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ materially from anticipated results. Factors that may cause our results to differ include those referenced in the safe harbor statement in today's earnings release and in our SEC filings. We do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

And now I'd like to turn it over to Chris.

Thanks, Olga. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us.

Second quarter revenue was $327 million and $649 million year-to-date, each reflecting a 5% reported revenue decline driven by $48 million and $101 million in last year's portfolio transitions, respectively. Excluding these transitions, organic growth ex CSL was 9% in the quarter and 11% year-to-date.

Adjusted EPS increased 13% in the quarter and 11% year-to-date to $1.27 and $2.36, respectively.

Our results reflect disciplined execution, delivering strong core product growth, record margin expansion and solid earnings that convert to cash, while advancing our portfolio and company transformation to sustain this momentum well beyond our long-range plan. The focus on NexSys, TEG and VASCADE continues to advance our leadership and fuel growth. We are gaining plasma share through best-in-class collection solutions. We are reinforcing TEG leadership in viscoelastic testing, and we are executing targeted vascular closure initiatives to strengthen performance and return Interventional Technologies to growth.

Turning now to our individual business performance. Hospital revenue was $146 million in the second quarter and $285 million year-to-date, up 5% on a reported basis and 4% organic in both periods. Strong Blood Management Technologies performance offset softness in Interventional Technologies, underscoring the resilience and diversified of our diversified portfolio and multiple drivers of performance.

Blood Management Technologies delivered strong growth, up 12% in the quarter and 13% year-to-date, driven by sustained strength in hemostasis management.

Growth was fueled by higher TEG disposable utilization and the ongoing rapid adoption of the global heparinase neutralization cartridge.

In October, we reinforced our global leadership in viscoelastic testing by launching the HN cartridge in EMEA and Japan. The broader portfolio also contributed to growth with transfusion management achieving double-digit growth, supported by heightened demand for transfusion safety and efficiency.

Interventional Technologies declined 5% in the quarter and 6% year-to-date, reflecting softness in the esophageal cooling against accelerating PFA adoption. While modest in size at approximately $3 million in revenue in the second quarter, esophageal cooling remains a disproportionate driver of near-term underperformance.

Vascular Closure grew 2% in the quarter and 3% year-to-date, led by MVP and MVP XL and electrophysiology growing 4% and 5%, respectively. These gains were partially offset by continued softness in legacy VASCADE concentrated in lower growth coronary and peripheral procedures. We remain confident in the strong clinical and economic differentiation of our vascular closure portfolio, and we are taking decisive actions to strengthen execution to accelerate growth.

We are also making solid progress with SavvyWire in the U.S., delivering consistent double-digit growth as we build its foundation and broaden our relevance in structural heart. We are updating our hospital revenue growth guidance to 4% to 7%, both reported and organic, reflecting sustained double-digit growth in Blood Management Technologies and little to no contribution from Interventional Technologies. This outlook reflects our focus on taking the steps necessary to drive long-term value creation with Interventional Technologies expected to play a larger role in accelerated growth and margin expansion beyond FY '26.

Moving to Plasma. Revenue was $125 million in the quarter and $255 million year-to-date, down 10% and 7% on a reported basis, respectively, reflecting the CSL transition. Excluding CSL, organic revenue grew 19% in the quarter and 23% year-to-date. Second quarter results were driven by share gains, robust growth in U.S. collections and ongoing benefits from innovation.

Our plasma business is stronger than ever, delivering revenue growth and margin expansion, enabled by best-in-class solutions that help improve customer performance to drive our share gains. Based on customer forecast and strong sentiment from PPPA, we have renewed confidence in the sustained robust growth of the plasma therapeutics market, particularly immunoglobulins.

Our second quarter results reinforce that view with U.S. collections growing in the high single digits and European collections continuing to grow double digits. Given stronger-than-anticipated first half performance, we are raising our full year reported plasma revenue guidance to a decline of 4% to 7% or 14% to 17% organic growth ex CSL. Second quarter collections growth was very encouraging. However, our guidance remains grounded in the factors we can control, primarily share gains.

Blood Center reported revenue decline of 18% in the quarter and 21% year-to-date, reflecting the impact of the whole blood divestiture.

Organic revenue grew 4% in the quarter and 5% year-to-date, driven by resilience in our core apheresis business. We are raising our full year Blood Center guidance to reflect this performance, now expecting reported revenue to decline 17% to 19% as we fully anniversary the Whole Blood divestiture and organic growth to be approximately flat.

Overall, revenue momentum remains strong, underpinned by growth and expanding profitability across our businesses. Despite $153 million in last year's portfolio transitions, 2 of our 3 growth franchises continue to deliver outsized organic growth while we strengthen our commercial execution for renewed sustained success in IVT. Reflecting better-than-expected first half performance across more than 80% of our portfolio, we are raising full year revenue guidance from a reported decline of 3% to 6% to a decline of 1% to 4% and organic growth ex CSL from an increase of 6% to 9% to an increase of 7% to 10%.

Over to you, James.

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. We delivered another strong quarter of profitable growth. Our results highlight the benefits of our strategic portfolio transformation, ongoing productivity initiatives and disciplined approach to cost management, contributing to continued improvement in margins and earnings growth.

Adjusted gross margin reached 60.5% in the second quarter and 60.6% year-to-date, up 380 and 460 basis points, respectively. The expansion was driven by the continued adoption of our Persona technology, price initiatives across the portfolio and favorable product mix, all of which are expected to continue to support margins in the second half.

Software license fees in the first quarter contributed roughly 100 basis points of gross margin benefit year-to-date. Adjusted operating expenses in the second quarter were $111 million, a decrease of $1.5 million or 1% -- the decline reflects lower freight costs, coupled with disciplined expense management and continued focus on efficiency across G&A while prioritizing targeted investments to support innovation and long-term growth.

Adjusted operating expenses year-to-date were $229 million, slightly up from $227 million last year, predominantly due to the timing of certain R&D investments.

The strength of our core portfolio and our ability to drive margin expansion is evident in our results. Year-to-date, we've absorbed $101 million of revenue impact from last year's portfolio transitions, all while growing our adjusted operating income. This performance reflects the strength and higher profitability of our base business and disciplined cost management, holding G&A flat and delivering additional productivity savings that help offset continued strategic investments in growth initiatives that strengthen our long-term trajectory.

Adjusted operating income increased 5% in the second quarter to $87 million, with adjusted operating margin expanding 250 basis points year-over-year to a new record of 26.7%.

Turning to the segment level performance in the second quarter. In hospital, adjusted operating margins expanded by 370 basis points, predominantly on continued strong momentum in Blood Management technologies, and higher operating leverage.

In Plasma, adjusted operating margin expanded by 190 basis points, driven by prior technology upgrades, share gains and the full transition of our legacy U.S. PCS2 business, partially offset by additional investments into innovation.

Blood Center adjusted operating margin expanded 320 basis points, driven by the whole blood divestiture, a stronger core apheresis mix and continued productivity gains from the ongoing portfolio rationalization.

Adjusted operating income for the total company year-to-date was up 7% to $165 million, with adjusted operating margin of 25.4%, an improvement of 270 basis points versus the prior year. We expect continued margin expansion in the second half and reaffirm our total company full year adjusted operating margin guidance of 26% to 27%.

The adjusted tax rate was 24.7% for the quarter compared with 25.1% in the prior year. Year-to-date, the adjusted tax rate was 24.8%, and we expect it to remain consistent for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Adjusted net income rose 5% to $60 million in the second quarter and 4% year-to-date to $114 million. Adjusted EPS increased 13% to $1.27 in the quarter and 11% year-to-date to $2.36.

The combined impact of share repurchases, tax, interest and FX provided a $0.06 benefit to quarterly adjusted EPS and a $0.05 benefit year-to-date.

We are raising our full year adjusted EPS guidance to $4.80 to $5 a share. At the midpoint of our revised fiscal year guidance, we assume approximately $35 million in interest and other expenses, generally comprised of net interest expense and foreign exchange hedge contracts and approximately 47.6 million in diluted shares outstanding at year-end.

Turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. We continue to enhance working capital management to optimize value creation, generating $111 million in operating cash flow in the second quarter, up 128% year-over-year.

Year-to-date operating cash flow was $129 million, a sixfold increase when compared with the same period last year, primarily due to improved inventory management, including the build-out of NexSys devices, which impacted our cash flow in the prior year. Free cash flow was $89 million in the quarter and $91 million year-to-date, with the free cash flow to adjusted net income conversion ratio of 147% and 80% in the quarter and year-to-date, respectively.

Our ability to generate cash remains strong, supported by disciplined execution and renewed focus on cash efficiency. We are raising our full year free cash flow guidance to $170 million to $210 million and reaffirming our expectation for the free cash flow to adjusted net income ratio to be in excess of 70% for the full fiscal year, underscoring our commitment to performance, cash discipline and capital stewardship.

Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $296 million in cash, down $10 million from the beginning of this fiscal year, primarily reflecting $75 million in share repurchases and additional strategic investments, partially offset by higher net income, translating into an even stronger cash flow.

Our capital structure remains unchanged with total debt of $1.2 billion, no borrowings under our revolving credit facility and a net leverage ratio of 2.5 as defined by our credit agreement. This positions us well to meet near-term debt obligations, fund operations and pursue value-creating opportunities, including additional share repurchases when appropriate.

Before we begin Q&A, I'd like to close with a few thoughts. We continue to execute our plan with strength and discipline, delivering profitable growth, expanding margins across all segments and translating our adjusted earnings to cash.

Despite $153 million in last year's portfolio transitions impacting this fiscal year, most of which are now behind us, we remain on track to achieve our updated guidance for the year and meet all our long-range plan targets.

Our growth and profitability are anchored in the success of our 3 core products: NexSys, TEG and Vascular Closure, supported by company-wide initiatives that continue to drive productivity and operational excellence.

Margin expansion remains a hallmark of Haemonetics. And with plasma and blood management outperforming and progress underway in Interventional Technologies, we are building a strong foundation for continued margin expansion beyond fiscal '26.

Across the company, our results reflected disciplined execution and a high-performance culture. And when combined with strong cash generation and a solid balance sheet, this positions us to further enhance long-term value creation. For fiscal '26, our priorities remain focused on meeting debt obligations, returning excess cash to shareholders via buybacks when appropriate and advancing targeted investments in our growth products.

Thank you. Operator, please open the line for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Rohin Patel of JPMorgan.

I just wanted to start off with some of the revenue drivers. You had a nice quarter in plasma and are raising the guidance, and you mentioned high single-digit collections growth in the U.S. So I just want to ask what you're assuming in the second half for collections versus share gains versus pricing?

And are you seeing any meaningful kind of recovery in collections intra-quarter? And how should we reconcile that with the strong ex CSL growth maybe with your longer-term sustainable outlook in plasma?

Rohin, it's Chris. Thank you for the question. We had a really stellar quarter with Plasma, a stellar first half. And I think you see that in the organic results. The second quarter was propelled by 3 things in order of priority, share gains as we continue to pick up additional centers on our devices, the benefits of innovation pricing, premium pricing for us, what is a superior product. And now collections volume growth. We had always predicted volume growth in the back half of the year. It started early in the second quarter. And that's a powerful trifecta.

To be specific about the volume growth we experienced high single digit in the U.S., double-digit growth in Europe. And we see that as a return from the normal cyclicality that has defined this industry for a very long period of time. So we remain really bullish on the end market demand for Ig-derived therapies, and you see that in our customers' earnings discussions as well. So plasma goes from strength to strength. We're very optimistic about its continued success.

Great. And then also just turning to hospital. Maybe if you can provide an update on some of the commercial work to get IVT back on track. I appreciate the additional color and disclosure you provided in that business. And also just it seems from your disclosures that the hospital business actually drove a lot of the incremental margin benefits in the quarter. So maybe if you could just talk about some of the levers you're pulling to drive operating margin and how you're balancing that with any of this additional commercial spend to get those products back on track.

Sure. Again, thank you. Yes, hospital was the single largest contributor to what continues to be really robust margin expansion. We're trying to provide more detail to be as transparent as possible. As we calculate the segment P&Ls, the hospital operating income expanded 370 basis points in the quarter. And to your point, that's mix, that's volume. And increasingly now, that's operating leverage, which we're really keen to see.

Obviously, there's 2 parts to hospital. Blood Management Technologies continues to excel, which is allowing us to put the appropriate focus and resources on driving IVT. And so IVT is defined by vascular closure. You saw the numbers in the quarter. Happy to go through as much detail as you want on that. But we remain confident in both the clinical and the economic differentiation of our vascular closure portfolio. And we're taking the right actions. We're being decisive to regain growth momentum in the latter part of this year and into FY '27.

Our next question comes from the line of Marie Thibault of BTIG.

Congrats on a nice quarter. I wanted to follow up there on Rohin's question about the IVT commercial efforts. You've mentioned some of the progress underway. Can you give us a little more detail on what exactly is happening, some of the green shoots that you're starting to see? Just any more detail on that turnaround?

Yes. Thanks, Marie. Good to hear from you. So I'd summarize it this way. I am highly confident in our team. They're taking the right actions in the right way, and they're fully resourced. And so the things we are highlighting, that commercial leadership group from first-level sales supervisors on up to the business president, many of them are new. They come with the exact right background experience and relationships to excel, particularly in electrophysiology, but also interventional cardiology.

You know that at the beginning of the year, we bifurcated our field force. It's an 80-20 split with 80%, of course, going to vascular closure. That gives us over 200 personnel in the field driving the product. We feel that's quite appropriate for the opportunity set. We've put a number of tools in place to drive sales force excellence, and I won't drag you through the details, but we're closing vacancies. We've upgraded our training. We have a new set of tools to track and monitor. The quotas have been aligned. The incentive comp is state-of-the-art. So we feel quite good about sales force excellence.

The other part of this is we've meaningfully strengthened our corporate accounts group that will help us with IDNs and increasingly with the ASCs as those become an important driver for the market where we think our value proposition is even more distinct.

We have successfully completed the MVP-XL trial, and we're able to make a timely submission to FDA prior to the shutdown. So that should bode well as we get here later in this fiscal year and next in terms of stronger clinical evidence and opportunity to leverage that trial outside the U.S., particularly in Japan.

And then we've gotten very targeted in our competitive response. And I know there's concern about is this going to meaningfully diminish your gross margins. It will not. We think we can actually maintain excellent margin and execute well to hold, to regain and to expand share across the board.

Yes. Very helpful, Chris, and thanks for all that detail. It sounds like things are improving for sure.

And then I wanted to follow up here and talk about Blood Management Technologies. Again, very, very strong performance. Help us think about the sustainability of that over the next few quarters. How should we think about the cadence of launches that you've recently put out, the length of kind of the rollouts and some of the benefits that you tend to see, again, sort of growing above historicals?

Yes. Thanks for the question. I think Blood Management Technologies continues to be on or undersung hero in the portfolio, grew 12% in the quarter and 13% year-to-date. That's, I don't know how many quarters now in a row of double-digit growth. We feel from the launch of the global heparinase neutralization cartridge that, that franchise has hit a new inflection point. And we think that double-digit growth is absolutely sustainable for about as far as we can see. It's driven by a combination of capital equipment, disposable utilization and, of course, the adoption of that heparinase neutralization cartridge.

I called out in the prepared remarks that we were pleased to launch the cartridge, both in Europe and Japan here in October. And we think that helps us, again, go from strength to strength for a business that's -- it's a market that the team helped create -- and we have the leadership share, 70% plus, and we intend to build and expand upon that. Fortunately, for us in the quarter, Blood Management Technologies was also benefited from transfusion management growing double digit, which is -- it's a smaller line of business, but one that is really attractive on many dimensions and continues to contribute positively. So we're excited about the prospects for Blood Management Technologies going forward.

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Matson of Needham & Company.

It's [ Joseph ] on for Mike. Could you just touch on blood center growth a little bit? Just, I guess, why was it so strong? I think 4% organic. Can you just talk about some of the growth drivers there, what you benefited from in the quarter?

Yes. Happy to talk about it, Joseph. Yes, Blood Center, again, that's the real unsung success story here, I guess, and it's meaningfully benefiting from focus. As you know, at the end of last calendar year, we divested the whole blood franchise and some of the supporting products, liquids, et cetera, that were really a drag on our margin and the distraction from a focus area. So with those behind us, we've really been able to focus on what is increasingly plasma apheresis done in blood centers often with our NexSys device. And you see that growth, 15%, 15% of the corporate revenue, but it's a solid source of EBITDA and return on invested capital and free cash flow, as you see from our numbers in the quarter.

The operating income in that business on a stand-alone segment basis, we estimate expanded its operating margin by 320 basis points, again, benefiting from the divestiture and an ongoing effort to rationalize that portfolio. We talk about the regional market alignment program. That's the focus there. So that gave us a lot of confidence to raise the guidance.

And now on an organic basis, we expect that business to hold serve and finish flat for the year.

Okay. Great. Yes, it's very clear you guys are benefiting from the rationalization. And then I guess 2 more unrelated, but they're quick. I'll just ask them together. How much did the share repurchase add to the EPS in the quarter -- or sorry, the EPS raise for fiscal '26?

And then I guess just on VASCADE and Vivasure, are you still committed to the large bore market? And are you still planning on proceeding with that acquisition of Vivasure?

Yes. It's James here. I thought I'd jump in on the first question on the share buyback in the quarter. It was a few cents, and it's included in the $0.06 below the line item that I gave earlier.

Yes. And just jumping over to Vivasure large bore closure. We are very committed to consummating that acquisition. That's -- I would describe that as near final successful submission to the FDA. If anyone has an opportunity to attend the most recent TCT, you would have heard about some really impressive results coming out of the patch trial, just in terms of reduction in vascular complications, medium time to hemostasis near instantaneous, really, really exciting. We think that it will be an FY '27 event just given the timing of FDA release, but that's a $300 million high-growth market for large bore arterial access in TAVR and EVAR -- the product is meaningfully differentiated. It's fully absorbable, sutureless implant-free.

Really, as we look at it from the submission to FDA, it was a best-in-class safety and ease of use. And for us, it's highly synergistic. It is a closure product, which is our primary focus in IVT, and it goes against structural heart, which will have call point synergy with our SavvyWire business.

So yes, we're excited. There's more work to be done, but we'll have more to say about that, I think, later this year.

Our next question comes from the line of David Rescott of Baird.

Congrats on the progress here. Two questions from us, and I'll ask them both upfront. First, on the plasma side, it seems like a pretty substantial step change in the U.S. collection volumes that are going out. I know you've talked in the past and have remain committed to the fact that there's ebbs and flows in the market and had expected it to get better in the second half of the year. It's clearly coming sooner than expected. So I'm curious on what you're seeing on the ground level as to why, again, a multi-quarter kind of low single flat growth number has now stepped up to this high single-digit level in the U.S. And just interested to hear on your confidence that maybe this isn't just a onetime thing. Should we expect the cyclicality on a quarterly basis, maybe to even step back down and step back up as this multiyear return to high single digit plays through? That's the first question.

And then second, on the VASCADE business, I know there were some comments around some of the competitive nature in that market. Last quarter, you're focusing on getting the sales force initiatives realigned here. So just curious to hear if you could parse out maybe the benefits you've seen from the work that you've done versus the overall market acceptance versus some of the things on the competitive side that again give you the confidence that you can continue to progress here through the year.

Yes. Thank you, David. So first on U.S. plasma collections, again, high single-digit volume growth on top of the pricing benefit from the technology advancements and ongoing share gain. We're very bullish that the cyclicality of this market. When we talk to our customers, when we walk the floor at PPTA and see the association's forecast, we think what we observed in the quarter is absolutely sustainable through the second half of the year and beyond. And we're benefiting because our customers are taking share in the end market, enabled by NexSys and the outperformance there.

The guidance that we put forth, right, because we grew 23% through the first half. The guidance we put forth is more modest, and we don't control collection volume. While we have every confidence that they continue and grow from here. Our guidance reflects what we can control, which is share gains and the annualization of those prior technology rollouts, which are happening this quarter, third quarter. So from our vantage point, we'll guide to what we control. We have continued share gains at hand, and we feel great about that. And so that's what you see in our forecast.

With regards to VASCADE and the competition, it is a competitive market. We clearly woke up both of the direct competitors we face there. But when we look at the trial data coming off of Excel, when we look at the actual head-to-head in accounts, we are very confident that we can regain share. We have green shoot examples of that as we speak. And we think that we go from strength to strength there. You'll know and you'll see our progress in the upcoming results. It will be first and foremost with VASCADE in electrophysiology.

SavvyWire is an important contributor, much smaller, but SavvyWire will be -- is the second priority for that team, and we expect continued double-digit growth ex OEM. And then when I spoke a minute ago about PercuSeal Elite coming in from Vivasure, that will be a third priority when we get into FY '27. So the guidance there is more modest. We felt like the right path was just to be prudent. And so we've narrowed and lowered that range. We don't expect a meaningful contribution this year, but the green shoots we are observing tell us that, again, right team, right actions being done in the right way to reestablish growth in that category going forward.

Our next question comes from the line of Travis Steed of BofA Securities.

This is [ Anja ] on for Travis. I wanted to ask on VASCADE. I understand the competitive discounting environment and lapping the Japan launch. Do you think the sales force changes really get you back to market -- above-market growth? And when should we expect the Japan label expansion? How significant would that be?

Yes. We absolutely have confidence that the changes we've made will return us to above-market growth rates and beyond. And so it's a really good product, clinically economically differentiated in the right hands. There's a lot of upside potential, particularly with MVP and MVP XL in electrophysiology.

With regards to Japan, yes, historically, Japan this fiscal year was an important growth contributor for us -- the launch of PFA changes the dynamics. But PFA looks meaningfully different in Japan, as you would hear from some of the folks behind that, right? It's a much more modest uptake in part because I think the Japanese market prioritizes safety first. So we see a slower adoption curve and then the mix within that adoption is much more evenly split between the lead players, which is important for us because they've accepted MVP-XL into the market, and we have reimbursement on the base label. And that's important because we're now indicated for so many more of those procedures, in fact, all but one modality at this point. That gives us confidence that the second part of this year and beyond, Japan becomes an important contributor.

They've also agreed to accept the U.S. data as part of our submission for regulatory approval and release for the larger access site indications. So there's more to be done. I don't want to call the timing on that because we don't control it. But as we get both the approval for the expanded label and that reimbursement, which has been very favorable for MVP and MVP XL and their base indications, we have a lot of confidence, particularly in the distributor we're using there. There'll be some movement quarter-to-quarter order timing, et cetera, but Japan will be a source of growth for us going forward.

Our next question comes from the line of Joanne Wuensch of Citi.

This is [ Anthony ] on for Joanne. Could you maybe characterize a bit more? I know it's early, but just how the launch of the HN cartridge is going in EMEA and Japan and if it's tracking similarly to how the U.S. launch was in the first few months?

Yes. So it will look different in those markets because the markets -- the viscoelastic testing is really different. We -- the product gives us broad-based application. And if what we see in the U.S. holds true, we're just seeing a far higher number. The dollar revenue per device is meaningfully increased with the heparinase neutralization cartridges here in the States. We expect that part of the launch will be very similar. But it is a different starting point. We don't have nearly as many TEG 5000, the predicate product in the market in either of those places. So less opportunity for that conversion.

They are smaller markets. But again, we have the ability to lead and our teams are excited. They are -- those markets reflect more of a hybrid approach. Some of them are direct, for instance, the U.K., Germany and parts of Japan. Others are through distributors. So there'll be a lag time as those distributors come up to speed on the new product, new cartridge and get established in the market. But long term, it's an important source of sustainable double-digit growth for that business and that franchise.

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Cooper of Raymond James.

Maybe starting, I think, Chris, you said a couple of times VASCADE was economically differentiated. Can you just give a little bit more color on sort of what you mean by that versus the competition? And then talk a little bit about how pricing and your approach to the market there has evolved competitively. Have you made changes to price? And do you feel like from here, we're in the right spot where it's going to be a little bit steadier. I know you said margins would hold in there, but just would love any thoughts on the top line and the price component.

Sure. Thank you, Andrew. Yes, the product, when you look at the metrics in terms of time to ambulation, time to discharge, it is at or above anything else in the marketplace. The real benefit, and I think you're seeing this with a heightened focus even in the post-PFA environment, is the improvement in workflow productivity. As a center adopts MVP and MVP XL, their ability to really move quickly with these patients, get them closed, get them ambulated and in almost all cases, send them home the same night, really powerful.

The other factor, and you hear this in the verbatim from the clinicians repeatedly is it's a pain-free solution. Suturing works and suturing has a reasonable profile, but it hurts a lot and often comes with the use of narcotics, which have their own complications. We eliminate all of that. And so the speed in the workflow, the absence of pain medication and just a much better patient verbatim helps a lot. As I said earlier, as this market increasingly moves to the ASCs, that difference will be all the more powerful. And so we're enthusiastic about it.

And with regards to pricing, as we've dug into this, we look very carefully now with the account level detail that we have at where we're gaining, where we're losing. It's almost never about the actual price of the product. We may have needed to be more flexible with regards to initiation trials or other work done jointly with VAC to get those remaining accounts converted. But in the head-to-heads that we're observing, very modest degree of flexibility on price tends to be driving the desired outcomes.

And you see that, again, I just go back to we're -- the hospital operating income margin was the primary driver of our overall margin growth at 370 basis points of OI. So from our vantage point, -- and to be clear, both BMT with TEG and IVT with VASCADE were equal contributors to that gross margin expansion. So what you'll see going forward is as we layer on the volume is increasing operating leverage. So we don't have any worries. The investments have already been made in OpEx and the price concessions are modest at best. And so from our vantage point, our margin expansion and the growth that we're anticipating top and bottom line are absolutely achievable.

That's great. And then I wanted to ask one more on Blood Management as well, just given the traction there, not to jump too far ahead of ourselves, but it's clear that the HN cartridge has done a lot for driving that growth. When you look into the future from an innovation perspective, are there other menu items to add that could be similar in magnitude? And if so, can you give any color on what they might be or maybe when we could think about more of that menu expansion to continue driving penetration with TEG?

Yes, Andrew, we absolutely see additional opportunity for the growth of visoelastic testing. We target, for example, in the U.S., a T700. Nearly half of them have not adopted visoelastic testing. We have 70 share of the market. Obviously, we intend to retain and grow that. But our biggest opportunity is taking visoelastic testing to the other sector of the market that doesn't have it. Hp neutralization helps do that because it gives you a broader spectrum of testing. But we also have additional indications that we are pursuing and additional applications of the product that -- we'll talk about more probably in the spring when we do our next Investor Day.

We'll pull back to Vail a bit and talk more about the really exciting portfolio pipeline that we've got going behind TEG.

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Petusky of Barrington Research.

So Chris, and I will admit, I missed it. There's a ton of companies reporting this morning and I missed part of your prepared remarks. So I'm just curious on Vascular Closure, if you're looking at over the last 12, 13, 14 weeks since we last talked on a conference call and you put in all these initiatives to try to sort of turn the business, and I'm sure you're looking at this, if not day by day, certainly week by week. I mean, are you -- I certainly heard the green shoots commentary, but are you seeing progress week by week, even through the end of the quarter into where we are now? Like are you seeing enough evidence to say, yes, we've bottomed, we've turned this. It's not an overnight back to where we were, but we've turned this or at least now we're trading punches as opposed to just taking punches. Like where what are you seeing? And where are you sort of in -- if you're calling us a sort of a comeback story, hopefully, where are you in that?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate the question. And I appreciate the interest on this.

We are absolutely anticipating a comeback story, right? And I think this one is going to be exciting and interesting to watch as it develops. We are confident that the actions that we have taken year-to-date have stabilized this performance. And so we don't expect any further deterioration in performance. we see green shoots with new account openings.

We see green shoots with greater utilization. We see green shoots with competitive win backs or just healthy head-to-head that we've come out on top on. So we do expect meaningful growth going forward. However, we're going to be prudent in our guidance. And at this point, the guidance for IBT writ large, and it's important. We didn't talk about this probably enough, but that franchise is unfortunately dragged down by esophageal cooling, and I'm happy to come back and give some more specifics there because I'm not including cooling as part of my commentary. I'm talking specifically about closure.

In closure, we put very little in for the second half, but that's us being prudent because it's a tough market, and I'd rather be on the conservative side of that. We've heard that loud and clear from the market to call it when you see it, but not before. Our results from here will speak for themselves, okay?

Okay. All right. Great. And just a quick one for James. James, as you -- obviously, you guys have been aggressive here recently with share repurchase. As you just sort of think, I guess, longer term, not looking for specific guidance for next year or longer term, but just generally speaking, I mean, would you expect the share count to sort of remain sub $50 million over the next few years? Like are you guys going to continue to be pretty active in share repurchase as you think about capital allocation beyond fiscal '26?

Yes. Thanks, Mike. So there's roughly 47 million-ish shares outstanding now. So I think a lot would have to happen to get above that $50 million mark. So the thought process here is that certainly, we would aim to keep dilution in check for sure.

And then I mean, let's face it, one of the benefits of having a strong balance sheet is that we do have some optionality on capital deployment. So yes, that includes buying back shares, also debt pay down and so forth. But yes, for the foreseeable future, lower than $50 million, pretty good bet.

Yes, Mike, it's Chris. If I could just pile on there. From a capital allocation perspective, exactly as James just highlighted, we're going to focus on paying down our debt, being opportunistic with the share buybacks. We'll make targeted organic investments as we have to advance new technology into the market. But again, we feel we've fully resourced from an OpEx perspective. You see that. You see that in our leverage. And obviously, you see that in our robust cash flow and a really healthy free cash flow to net income conversion ratio.

But we're focused on what we have. We're focused on making the most of the portfolio. As I've said repeatedly, we'll do Vivasure when the final set of milestones are hit, and we're ready to go there. Beyond that, M&A is off the table until we have IBT exactly where we need it to go.

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