Qiagen Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Exceeded Q2 outlook with net sales up 7% to $534 million and adjusted EPS of $0.60 ($0.62 CER), driving stronger-than-expected profitability.
  • Positive Sentiment: Growth pillars outperformed, led by QIAstat Dx (+41% CER), QuantiFERON (+11% CER) and double-digit growth in the QIAcuity digital PCR platform.
  • Positive Sentiment: Upgraded 2025 guidance to 4–5% net sales growth (5–6% in core portfolio) at constant exchange rates and confirmed adjusted EPS of ~$2.35 CER.
  • Positive Sentiment: Expanded capital returns with first ever annual dividend, $500 million share repurchase authorization and $650 million returned since 2024, supporting shareholder value.
  • Negative Sentiment: Asia Pacific challenges with sales down 4% CER and China revenues declining at a low-teens rate, reflecting continued headwinds in regional markets.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Qiagen Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Katie, your Global Meet call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining QIAGEN's Q2 twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Please be advised that this call is being recorded at QIAGEN's request and will be made available on their Internet site.

Operator

The prepared remarks will be followed by a question and answer session. At this time, I'd like to introduce your host, John Gallardi, Vice President of Head Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications at QIAGEN. Please go ahead.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

Thank you, operator, and welcome to all of you to our call today for the 2025. We appreciate your time and interest in QIAGEN. Joining me today are Terri Binard, our Chief Executive Officer and Roland Sackers, our Chief Financial Officer. Also joining us is Doctor. Domenica Marchorano from our IR team.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

Today's call is being webcast live and will be archived in the IR section of our website at www.pygen.com. A copy of the results press release and the presentation are also available on our website. Before we begin, please note that this call will include forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected due to a number of factors outlined in our most recent Form 20 F and other filings with the U. S.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

Securities and Exchange Commission. We will also refer to certain financial measures not prepared in accordance with U. S. GAAP that provide additional insights into our performance. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP figures are in the release and presentation.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

All references to earnings per share refer to diluted EPS. And with that, let me turn over the call to Thierry.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, John, and hello. Good morning, good afternoon or good evening to everyone around the world. Thanks again for joining us. QIAGEN delivered another clean and solid quarter in 2025. Indeed, our sales growth is among the highest in the industry.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

And on top of that, we are increasing our outlook for the year. This performance reflects focused execution and give us confidence to deliver on our upgraded 2025 targets. We are building a solid foundation to deliver more growth in 2026 on our path for solid and profitable growth against our 2028 targets. So let me walk you through our four key messages for today. First, we exceeded our outlook for Q2 with solid growth and improved profitability.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Net sales rose 7% to $534,000,000 with 6% growth at constant exchange rates. Core sales are a more important metric for QIAGEN since they exclude discontinued products like PneumoDx and Diallinose. Those sales also grew 6% CER over the same period in 2024. Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.6 and $0.62 at CER, ahead of our target and driven by the strong improvements in operational profitability. Second key message: Our growth pillars performed strongly.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

QIAstat grew 41% at CER. This was driven by strong instrument placement that once again exceeded our quarterly goal of at least 150 systems. We continue to see solid demand across all regions and benefits from our menu expansion initiatives for syndromic testing. QuantiFERON grew 11% CER, supported by solid gains in The Americas but also in EMEA as we maintained momentum in driving conversion of latent TB testing for the traditional skin test. Let us remember that around 60% of the global market still relies on the skin test and this underscores the significant remaining potential for conversion.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Kayakuity, our digital PCR platform, delivered double digit CER growth and supported by healthy demand for consumables, companion diagnostic deals, while instrument placements were slightly below the prior year, reflecting cautious capital spending trends among customers. QIAGEN Digital Insights, our bioinformatics business, maintained momentum in a challenging environment. Here, we expect new growth in Persis from the acquisition of Genox and the Franklin cloud platform for AI driven interpretation of next generation sequencing data for clinical labs. And in Sample Technologies, although total sales were flat against the 2024, we saw solid mixed single digit growth in automated consumables. Our teams are moving ahead to launch three new platforms we first set in late twenty twenty five.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Third key message, we have upgraded our full year 2025 sales outlook based on this solid start to the year in a complex and volatile macro environment. We now expect 4% to 5% net sales growth at constant exchange rates, up from the previous target for about 4% growth. More importantly, we are now expecting five to 6% CER growth in our core portfolio, up from the prior outlook for about 5% growth. We are also confirming the adjusted earnings per share outlook of about $2.35 at CER, which, as you remember, we upgraded in April and represent an increase of $07 compared to our initial guidance for the year. So amid this external volatility, we remain focused on execution and agility to deliver on our targets and capture the right growth opportunities.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

And as a fourth point, we have an expanded range of ways to create value for shareholders, customers and other stakeholders. Following our Annual General Meeting in June, we paid our first ever annual dividend and now have authorization for another synthetic share repurchase of up to $500,000,000 over the coming eighteen months. With about $650,000,000 already returned to shareholders since 2024, we are well on track to reach our goal of returning at least $1,000,000,000 to shareholders by the 2028 absent once again of significant M and A. At the same time, we are continuing to invest organically in the business. Our teams are also actively reviewing value creating M and A opportunities.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Our differentiated portfolio across diagnostic and life sciences is indeed strong and performing well. This is reflected in a strong record of execution and a clear commitment to implementing and executing on our strategy and creating value. With that, I will hand it over to Roland for more on the financials.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Thier, and hello, everyone. We delivered strong financial results in the 2025.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Our profitability continued to improve, supported by disciplined execution and a clear focus on operational efficiency. Let me take you through the key financial highlights now. First, we achieved another increase in our adjusted operating income margin. It rose to 29.9% of sales, up 1.5 percentage points from the same quarter last year. This improvement was driven by several factors.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

First and foremost, the efficiency initiative launched in 2024. This included the decision to discontinue NeumoDx, which more than offset the adverse impact from currency movements against U. S. Dollar and the new tariffs. Cost discipline across the organization played an important role.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We have also maintained our focus on investing in growth and innovation. Based on the solid results for the 2025, we are tracking toward an adjusted operating income margin of about 30% for 2025. Compared to 2023, this would represent about 300 basis points of margin improvement, which underscores the scalability and strength of our operating model. Second, we delivered strong cash flow in the 2025 while absorbing cash payments for the efficiency program and portfolio decisions. Net cash from operating activities was USD $3.00 1,000,000, unchanged from the 2024.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

This reflected the solid business expansion and benefits from TAETA working capital management. Our balance sheet remains very strong, giving us flexibility to invest in innovation, pursue targeted M and A and continue returning capital to shareholders. This year, we have already returned over $350,000,000 to shareholders through the $300,000,000 share repurchase program in January and the $54,000,000 of dividend paid in July. Let me now walk you through some additional details on our sales performance in the quarter. Starting with Sample Technologies.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Sales were broadly unchanged from the 2024. We saw good trends in our focus on automated consumables across several regions. Instrument sales held steady over the year ago period, supported by continued placements of our core platforms. Diagnostic Solutions sales rose 11% at constant exchange rates with strong contributions across our regulated products and led by QIAstat Dx sales up 41% CER and QuantiFERON sales rising 11% CER. We also saw another quarter of double digit revenue growth in Companion Diagnostics revenues.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In PCR and Nuclear Acid Amplification, sales grew 3% CER over the year ago period. ChaiAcuity saw a positive growth rate in consumables, but instrument sales were soft due to cautious customer spending. Turning to the Genomics and NGS product group. These sales were also stable in the year over year period. Growth in the QIAGEN Digital Insights bioinformatics business reflected double digit gains among clinical customers, which absorbed softer trends among research customers that are facing continued funding pressure.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We are also working through the shift from the multiyear licenses to SaaS based subscriptions. Turning to the regions. Sales in The Americas rose 7% CER, supported by strong growth in The U. S. And Mexico.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In the EMEA region, sales grew 8% CER, led by France and Italy, growing at double digit rates along with contributions from Germany, Switzerland and The Middle East. The Asia Pacific region declined 4% CER, with sales down at the low teens CER rate in China over the same period in 2024. Moving down the income statement. Adjusted operating income rose a strong 13% to $160,000,000 and led to the adjusted operating income margin improving to 29.9% of sales in Q2 twenty twenty five from 28.4% in Q2 twenty twenty four. On a constant exchange rate basis, the margin rose even more sharply to 30.8% in the twenty five quarter.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

This improvement was driven by a combination of higher sales and ongoing efficiency initiatives. The adjusted gross margin benefited from a quarter with a solid product mix but had to absorb the impact of new tariffs and currency movements and declined to 66.7% from 67.2 in Q2 twenty twenty four. R and D investments were 8.9% in Q2 twenty twenty five compared to 9.9% in the year ago period and aligned with the target for about 9% to 10% on an annual basis. Sales and marketing expenses were 22.1% compared to 23.1% in Q2 twenty twenty four, reflecting efficiency gains while maintaining targeted customer engagement. General and administrative expenses were slightly lower at 5.7% in Q2 twenty twenty five compared to 5.8 a year ago.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We have good cost discipline while continuing to support strategic IT upgrades. In terms of adjusted EPS at constant exchange rates, these results were above the outlook and that was even with an adjusted tax rate at 20% against our target for about 19%, which continues to be our 25% goal. Turning to cash flow. We generated $3.00 $1,000,000 in operating cash flow during the 2025 compared to $300,000,000 in the 2024 period. This performance is even more noteworthy given that the 2025 results included about $36,000,000 of cash restructuring payments related to our efficiency initiatives and portfolio streamlining actions.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Free cash flow was $270,000,000 slightly below the $225,000,000 in the 2024. This reflects higher planned investments into digital initiatives, particularly the SAP system upgrade that is now in the implementation phase. We continue to improve our working capital management, thanks to operational discipline. Accounts receivable were unchanged at about fifty six days compared to the 2024 as our teams continued to improve in this area. At the same time, days of inventory decreased to one hundred and fifty nine at the end of the 2025 compared to one hundred and ninety three days at the 2024 in light of our efficiency initiatives.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

As for the cash flow consideration in the 2025, keep in mind that the dividend payment was made in July. We also anticipate that about $500,000,000 will be paid out in H2 twenty twenty five for the 2024 convertible notes due to a likely early redemption. In light of this topic, we are reviewing attractive nondilutive refinancing opportunities during the 2025. One option under consideration is to issue cash sale convertible notes at favorable terms. As always, any refinancing will be aligned with our disciplined capital allocation strategy.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In closing, our strong financial position supports our proven capital allocation approach. This combines investing in strategic growth initiatives with increasing returns to shareholders. With that, let me hand the call back to Thierry.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thanks a lot, Roland. So in addition to executing on sales and profitability, we also execute on research and development.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So let's now take a quick look at progresses across our product portfolio, starting with Sample Technologies, where we continue to advance our next wave of automation. We are making indeed steady progress on three new instruments, and I'm very pleased to report that we are perfectly on track on budget, specification and timing for Kia Symphony Connect, Kia Mini and Kia Spring Connect. Those systems are designed to deliver flexible throughput, improve automation and enhance digital connectivity across both clinical and research applications. The first of them, QIAsymphony Connect is on track for a controlled launch towards the 2025. This platform strengthens our position in high value application such as liquid biopsy, offering expanded capabilities and improved connectivity.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

QIA Mini and QIA Sprint Connect are planned for H1 twenty twenty six. Together, those platforms will expand our installed base and address a broader range of customer needs with scalable innovative sample preparation solution. Early field tests for QIA Spring Connect and early feedback from pharma companies have been extremely successful and we are seeing strong interest in this high throughput system, reflecting broader customer demand for next generation automation. Second, QIAstat Teix, our syndromic testing platform, has a growing footprint worldwide. As you know, we are now offering a broad menu of FDA cleared syndromic panels across respiratory, gastrointestinal and meningitis targets.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

This includes three mini panels tailored for outpatient settings, helping to address reimbursement challenges, specifically in North America. The strength of our assay portfolio has driven strong instrument placement and in the 2025, for example, we placed more QIAstat system in North America than in whole of 2024. With those developments, QIAstat continues to build momentum as a flexible and fast growing solution in the syndromic testing market. Turning to QuantiFERON now, where we continue to drive successful conversions for the traditional skin test. I cannot emphasize enough that customers continue to choose the superior solution built on QuantiFERON and the trusted DiaSorin liaison automation system.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

But we are not being complacent. We continue to strengthen this foundation with seamless lab integration through truly universal automation. We continue to invest and innovate our QuantiFERON test to improve both automation and ease of use. So stay tuned. Soon, we will be able to share some exciting news on this front.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Now to Kayakriti, our digital PCR platform that continues to expand its presence in oncology research especially. As you might have seen, we recently announced new partnerships to develop and deliver multiplex assays optimised for kayaquity and digital PCR. ID Solutions, for example, is supporting assay development for cancer mutation detection in circulating free DNA and FFPE tissue samples. Another partnership, Tracer Biotechnologies, is working with us on minimal residual disease tests for solid tumours to support decentralised clinical trials and future companion diagnostics. Third, in addition to that, GenCurix is developing third party IVD oncology assays for our Kayakuity diagnostic, including application in both tissue and liquid biopsies.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Those partnerships will reinforce Callaquity's role as a differentiated platform in oncology and will open further opportunities in areas such as transplant medicine, infectious diseases and metabolic disorders. If we turn now to precision medicine, where QIAGEN continues to strengthen its position as a trusted pharma partner. In June, we announced a global partnership with Incyte to develop a next generation sequencing based test for detecting CALr gene mutations in patients with a rare type of bone marrow cancer. This test will support phase three clinical studies. We also began a collaboration with Foresight Diagnostics to transition their next generation sequencing based CLARITY ctDNA assay for lymphoma.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

This collaboration will transition this test from a central lab service into a kit for use in clinical trials. And finally, turning to our bioinformatics activities and QIAGEN digital insights. We acquired Genox in May, adding the Franklin cloud platform to our clinical genomics offering. Used in over 4,000 labs worldwide, Franklin expands our capability in scalable AI based NGS interpretation and fully complements our QCI suite of solutions. Overall, with those developments across our portfolio, we are now targeting about $1,490,000,000 in aggregated sales from our five pillars of growth in 2025, which represent about 8% growth over the prior year.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Based on the results from the first half, we are well on track to achieve this goal. And now back to Roland with the details on our outlook for 2025.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Thierry. Let me now provide some more perspectives on our outlook for 2025 and the third quarter. Our ambition remains clear: to deliver another year of solid profitable growth and continued improvement in operational efficiency.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We have upgraded our full year 2025 outlook for total net sales to grow about 4% to 5% at constant exchange rates, up from the prior target of 4% growth. More important is that we have also increased our target for growth in our core portfolio that excludes revenues from discontinued products. These core sales are now expected to grow about 5% to 6% CER, up from the prior target of 5%. Let me point out that you will see a stronger difference between total and core sales in the 2025 given the discontinuation of NeuMoDx and DynaLunox in June. So this represents about $20,000,000 of headwind from the sales of these products in the 2024 that have been discontinued during the 2025.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

On adjusted earnings per share, we continue to expect results of about $2.35 at CER. We are increasing profitability ahead of sales as we see benefits from continuous contributions and efficiencies with a more stable favorable tax rate while also absorbing the impact of new tariffs. For full year 2025, we anticipate tariffs to create a relative headwind of about 90 basis points on the adjusted gross margin as we are continuing to increase our mitigation strategy. We have taken a realistic view on growth for the 2025, just as we did in the first half, reflecting the current macroeconomic environment. At the same time, we continue to see opportunities to deliver results above our targets.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

For the 2025, we are targeting at least 4% CER growth in total net sales and a faster rate at least 5% CER growth in the core portfolio. Adjusted EPS is expected to be at at least €0.58 at constant exchange rates. As we look at the currency market trends, we expect a positive impact of about one percentage point on full year net sales, but an adverse impact of about €02 on adjusted EPS given the headwinds in the first half of this year. For Q3, currency is expected to have a positive impact of up to one percentage point on net sales but be neutral on adjusted EPS. So in closing, we have now upgraded our initial sales and adjusted EPS targets for 25% and are committed to delivering on these goals as the foundation for further solid profitable growth in 2026 and the coming years. With that, I now hand it back to Thier.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Roland. So we are coming to the end of our presentation. And before your questions, let me briefly summarize the key messages for the 2025. First, we delivered another solid, clean quarter of results that were again above our outlook for both net sales and adjusted earnings.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In fact, our sales growth is among the highest in the industry. Second, our growth pillars are driving momentum across our portfolio. From diagnostic to life science and across the world, we are addressing critical customer demands in highly attractive and growing market. Third, based on the solid trends in the first half, we have upgraded our full year 2025 net sales outlook based on the strong start of the year, and we have also confirmed our adjusted EPS target following our increase in April. Fourth, we are advancing our capital allocation that balance investments in QIAGEN with increasing shareholders' returns.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

At the same time, we continue to invest organically into the business in terms of innovation, digital infrastructure and targeted M and A deals. So in closing, we are moving into the second half of the year from a position of strength. Quarter by quarter, year after year, we are building long term value for our shareholders and we still are determined to achieve our ambitions for solid profitable growth. And before ending the call, I want to let you know that we will be having another virtual deep dive session this year highlighting this time our growth pillar sample technology. We continue to receive excellent feedback on our two previous deep dives on QDI, if you remember last year in December, and QuantiFERON, and we want to keep that very accurate, short and winning format going.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

With that, thanks a lot for your attention. And I now like to hand back to John and the operator for the Q and A session. Thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer question and if necessary, one follow-up. Your microphone will also be muted after finish asking the question. The first question comes from Luke Surgut with Barclays.

Salem Salem
Salem Salem
VP - Equity Research at Barclays

This is Salem Salem on for Luke Surgut. Thanks for taking our question. Just one on the quarterly dynamics. In 3Q, you're lapping a tougher comp compared to the first half. So what's really driving the confidence in the guide from a visibility perspective?

Salem Salem
Salem Salem
VP - Equity Research at Barclays

And then the 4Q guide seems to step down just a little bit to the two ish percent range on a CER growth basis. Anything that is worth calling out there on the perceived deceleration? Or is that sort of a risk adjusted based on visibility two quarters ahead?

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So thanks, Luke, and that's a fair question. First of all, we are coming already from a quite high growth. So obviously, increasing based on that high growth. Again, the guidance for the year is quite a performance. Second, we continue to operate in a very volatile environment.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

I strongly believe that the question of tariff is not completely solved. So it's still volatile. So we remain realistic but also ambitious. Last, do not forget, as Ronan started to add you did too, that what is interesting to look at, especially in Q4, will be the core growth rate because in Q4 especially, you will see that the impact of the discontinuation last year of Newmodics and Dialynox onto this year is going to become important. Roland, would you like to add something to that?

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Yes. Thank you, Trey. No, I think the one thing to hear that as well, I don't think there's you will not hear from Thierry or me today that there's any particular reason why Q4 should be in any way significantly different than Q3 in terms of growth rates. So I'm not sure. Again, as I said, focus on the core growth rate, and then you see it is not a significant difference from today's perspective.

Salem Salem
Salem Salem
VP - Equity Research at Barclays

Got it. That's that's super helpful. Thank you for that. And then one on Sorry.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

It's one question. Let's move to the next question after

Salem Salem
Salem Salem
VP - Equity Research at Barclays

we go. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We'll go next to Asiya Noor with Morgan Stanley.

Aisyah Noor
Aisyah Noor
VP - Equity Research at Morgan Stanley

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I'll keep it to one. Just on QIAstat, could you unpack the 41% growth a little bit? How much was flu related respiratory demand versus new pull through on the GI and ME panels and versus new account wins in The US?

Aisyah Noor
Aisyah Noor
VP - Equity Research at Morgan Stanley

And I'll ask my follow-up as well to this, which is, you able to disclose the installed base for QIAstat as of the latest quarter? Thank you.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So thanks, Alicia, for your question. So if you remember the specificities of this market for syndromic, more than 70% of the market is made of respiratory. So respiratory remains the main test driving that growth and that performance. But from a purely percentage, even if the base is lower, we are extremely pleased with the growth of testing on GI and now also meningitis, specifically in Europe and starting in The US. We start also in that 41% to see the impact of the mini panels in The US.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

You remember that we are a unique company in the sense that we can offer both large panels and also mini panels. Fourth, there is also a good impact of capital sales and placement in those numbers. As we have said, first of all, we are way ahead of our quarterly objective of 150 system. And as we said today, if you just take the example of The U. S.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In 2025, we put more system forecast that on the market than in the full year of 2024. So it's basically what is driving this performance. I'd like to finish by saying as well that even if QIAstat is the only syndromic system which has been endorsed by pharma company for companion diagnostic, there is no influence of companion diagnostic in the growth of H1 and the growth of Q2. It's purely testing and instrument placement performance.

Operator

Thank you. We'll go next to Jan Koop with Deutsche Bank.

Jan Koch
Jan Koch
VP - Equity Research at Deutsche Bank

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is on your product group, Other. Could you remind us of what is included here? And could you quantify the revenue from the discontinued system within that line in H1?

Jan Koch
Jan Koch
VP - Equity Research at Deutsche Bank

And should we expect a return to a more normalized growth rate from Q3 onwards? And then secondly, a follow-up on castrate X. Could you speak a bit about the regional breakdown of that growth we have seen in Q2?

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

I will let Roland answer for other and the discontinuation. But remember that in previous call, we gave you the numbers for what was, for example, NeuMoDx in H1 of this year. By the way, NeuMoDx fully discontinued as of June 25. We closed the termination of this instrument. Roland, for this first question on the quantification and other, and then I will come back to you with QIAstat split geography.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Yes. Thank you, Jan. I think overall, as we said, we're clearly going to stop it down. And we had also, I think, the first half, when for both combined, it's probably around million dollars And also the delta compared to last year is also a $20,000,000 number. So it is a sizable impact for us.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

That's the reason why we, again, focus on the overall impact in terms of core growth rates and focus on the core numbers because it is real apple to apple. On your second question, what is in other, it is a mix of several factors. Therefore, it's other. It is starting from freight reimbursements. It has also to do, of course, with certain reallocations we get from the freights all the way down to certain onetime deals we do with certain customer groups. It's a bit more bumpy.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Roland. And for the geography split of QIAstat, so pleased to report that all the regions are benefiting and contributing to this growth. Europe, despite the strong market share that we have, is growing double digit. North America is accelerating.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We have fully reorganized the leadership, the team with fully specialized people on the field now. And what we find interesting, Jan, to your question as well, is that we see countries that are becoming quite significant in terms of revenues in some emerging areas. I would give you a couple of examples: South Africa, for example, Saudi or Part of Middle East, where we have significant market shares. So this is a bit the geographic contribution.

Operator

You. We'll go next to Tycho Peterson with Jefferies.

Tycho Peterson
Tycho Peterson
MD - Global Equities at Jefferies Financial Group

Hey, thanks. I want to probe on maybe just your views on QIAcuity for the back half of the year. Keeping in mind your target for 600 to 1,000 systems this year. Can you just talk about expectations for the back half of the year? How you're feeling about kind of pharma uptake?

Tycho Peterson
Tycho Peterson
MD - Global Equities at Jefferies Financial Group

And then thoughts on competitive dynamics. Your main competitor did an acquisition of Stila. They have some new launches and are targeting kind of the lower end of the market with improved automation and flexities. So just curious how you feel about competitive dynamics. And then before I jump off, just one clarification.

Tycho Peterson
Tycho Peterson
MD - Global Equities at Jefferies Financial Group

Did you lower the target for QDI from $200,000,000 to $140,000,000 by '28? I think I heard that.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So Tycho, thanks a lot for the question. We did not review any target that we gave for 2028, not for QDI or not for any other portfolio priorities. Second, on the back end of H2 for Kayakuity. On one hand, we are confident that we can achieve our targets because when you look at the number of instruments we have to achieve in H2 compared to what we put on the market in 2024, it is very comparable. So we did it in 2024.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

I see no reason not to do it in 2025. Of course, as we always said, we operate in an environment where there is cautious capital spending, especially in research and academia lab. But against that headwind, we believe that we can achieve our target. Now increased or renewed competition, we welcome that, Tycho. First of all, for us, it proves that this is a very attractive and dynamic market.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We believe that that market is still growing at double digit. The fundamentals of our competitive positioning have not changed. Simpler system to use, much more automated than any competition and greater cost of ownerships. This has not changed. We fully acknowledge that Bio Rad has made an acquisition.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We fully respect Bio Rad. I don't think that the market shares of Stila were basically disruptive of what's going to be basically a competition between our two companies. This being said, I have said many times that I believe that this system, the quality of Kayakuity deserve to become the number one in digital PCR, and I still hold to that statement that we will become number one on that market.

Operator

Thank you. We'll take our next question from Harry Gillis with Berenberg.

Harry Gillis
VP - MedTech/Life Sciences Equity Research at Berenberg

Hi. Thank you very much for taking the questions. You talked about the very encouraging feedback for your new instruments in Sample Technologies. Could you provide some more color on how we should think about the trajectory of that contribution to revenue growth over the next few years? And then related to that, just wondering if you're still seeing any deferrals of orders in Sample Technologies ahead of these launches.

Harry Gillis
VP - MedTech/Life Sciences Equity Research at Berenberg

I'm asking because the sort of flat instrument growth this quarter looks like a sequential improvement versus last quarter. So just trying to piece together the different moving parts here.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

That's a fair question, and you are right. Why are we confident? Because our strategy that we have reaffirmed in our Capital Market Day last year is to invest in automation for SampleTeq. And if you look at Q2 result, we see automated consumables growing around mid single digit. This is very encouraging.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Of course, this happens once again in an environment where capital expenses, especially in the area of academia and life science, are depressed. Nonetheless, being able to grow positively in Q2 on automated sample tech is encouraging. Now in addition to that, we are coming with three new systems. No other company on the market active in sample tech has this kind of investment and innovation. So impact on our numbers has been described in our Capital Market Day last year.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We said that our ambitions by 2028 will be to grow to $650,000,000 revenue for SampleTeq, which will give us a 2% to 3% CAGR until then, and this will mainly come from those instruments.

Operator

Thank you. We'll go next to Dan Leonard with UBS.

Dan Leonard
Dan Leonard
MD & Research Analyst at UBS Group

Thank you very much. Terry, you talked about continued automation efforts with QuantiFERON and said stay tuned. What are you alluding to? Are you able to broaden your partnerships in automation beyond DSRN, or is there any contractual exclusivity that would prevent you from doing so?

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Well, we are very happy with our partnership with QuantiFERON. We repeated that a lot. The situation works very well. We see no need at the moment for adding necessary other partners, but that doesn't prevent us from continuing to invest on the test. How do you invest on the test?

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

One, you make it simpler to use. Second, you increase the potential throughput of the kit. This is two things we are working on, and by the way, together also with DiaSorin. It's a bit early to give you all the details, but in the coming, let's say, two quarters, you'll know more. Third, as you know, we are also developing a new QuantiFERON for emerging countries.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We call it the CAIA REACH. This is due to be launched around 2027. We are still on track. So this is the way. It's not necessarily adding a new partner.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

The partnership with Diastroene works very well. It's making the test even better, quicker, able to stand more volumes, and easier to use.

Operator

Thank you. We'll go next to Jack Meehan with Nephron.

Jack Meehan
Partner & Equity Research Analyst - Life Science Tools & Diagnostics at Nephron Research LLC

Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon. I wanted to talk about the operating margin forecast for the year, just like it's slightly lower, you know, at approximately 30% for the year. Can you just talk about tariff assumptions, FX versus, like, kind of operational factors, how things are looking for the year?

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Jack, as I said on the call, first of all, I do think we had a very good one also in the second quarter, and we do not expect it to be very in any way different in the second half of the year. We improved 150 basis points in the second quarter ex currencies and, I do think, while absorbing a headwind from tariffs. As you know, we stated that a couple of times for 2025, We feel very comfortable that it doesn't change our absolute numbers. There's a lot of mitigation underway, again, from changing our internal supply ways, the way we produce, discussion with suppliers, way distribute transfer pricing all the way to sharing with customers. Nevertheless, relatively, of course, it has an impact because, again, if you pay a certain tariff amount, and of course, we do comply with the laws and, therefore, paying tariffs as well.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

And you only get reimbursed to a certain extent. It has a relative impact, not necessarily absolute, down to EPS. So long story short, we do believe that probably for this year, is around about a 90 basis point impact. We still continue to see even more mitigation coming in, so it might be a bit better. But of course, you see that has an impact.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So I would say right now, we are aiming to the 30%. We might be there. We might be a tick lower than that. Nevertheless, still a significant improvement. Absolute dollar wise, EPS wise, very strong, very happy with the €2.35 which is out there.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Think one more comment to one of the questions I heard before. One second because I don't think that I answered it before correctly. I think one thing what I do think is important to stress as well, if you look on the five pillars of growth, the combined growth for this year, as you know, is at a combined €1,490,000 We feel very well on our way to make and probably even beat that number as well.

Operator

You. We'll go next to Doug Schenkel with Wolfe Research.

Doug Schenkel
MD - Life Science Tools & Diagnostics at Wolfe Research LLC

Thank you for taking my questions. Two topics. First, on M and A. Given the strength of the business, the strength of the balance sheet, your cash flow, how are you thinking about the M and A funnel as we sit here today? And and what are the parameters that we should expect you're applying as you as you look at potential deals?

Doug Schenkel
MD - Life Science Tools & Diagnostics at Wolfe Research LLC

So that's the first topic. The second is on margins. You're clearly trending ahead of the LRP targets for '28 that you laid out at the Investor Day. Where are you seeing the most upside to initiatives pursuant to margin improvement? And how should we think about the sustainability of those trends? Thank very much.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Doug. We can take that question, the two of us. With Roland, first of all, on M and A, we do not change our approach. We are used to do successful bolt on acquisition. Genox is the latest example.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Our pipeline for interesting opportunities from now to the coming months is extremely solid. The criterias, first of all, it has to be synergistic with our growth priorities and pillars of growth. This company has been heavily focusing over the last six years. We are not going to use M and A to spread the company FinoGain, so focus and synergies with where we are currently with customers to allow us to take more shares of wallet at customers is key. Second, those deals need to make financial sense for the company and therefore create value for our shareholders.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

In other words, we have the strength to accept some dilution for some time, I would say two years up to maximum three years, but we see and we need to see the clear pathways to accretion and profitability. Those are the two main criteria. And on the gross margin, you remember that and in the EBIT margin in the LRP, we presented a clear pathway and waterfall of where we were acting to improve that target of 31% so Roland can describe where we believe we have more upside.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Yes. And I think it's very clear also presenting here now from today's number that we are clearly tracking well ahead of that.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Nevertheless, we clearly also are in an environment where the macroeconomics gets more difficult to forecast. Therefore, as you know, we decided not only for this year but also probably last year, it served us quite well to rather take a realistic view on the environment, giving us some flexibility so that we, I would say, can deliver on the numbers as we promised and hopefully come in, as we did now a couple of times, even nicely better. So we haven't changed our policy around that, now moving into the second half. Nevertheless, I do think what is going to drive us and help us also north of 26% into more or less 28% environment is, on the one hand side, our digital initiatives. We are rolling out quite a number of digital initiatives within QIAGEN but also facing customer facing.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Also, there's a good set of AI opportunities for us. So there is, I would say, quite a number of AI initiatives which might make a difference for us as well. There's clearly still certain smaller footprint optimizations possible within QIAGEN. You have seen some already coming through. So that's ongoing.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Scale comes by in brackets by itself. So I do think the margin inspection is for us rather the question is when to communicate, not necessarily how to achieve that. And if you would ask me today what is the most likely framework, I would probably say, of course, early next year, we have to give a guidance for the year. That's probably the latest point. I would say if some of the macro environment challenges get addressed to a high degree even earlier, that might be also a good point than in the, I don't know, sort of first quarter.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

It is within that period, it is very much revenue macro news and once we have that out of the way.

Operator

We'll take our next question from Hugo Sovei with BNP Paribas.

Hugo Solvet
Executive Director - Equity Research - Medical Technologies & Services at BNP Paribas

So just on NIH, could you discuss how NIH account evolved in Q2 and share maybe some early feedback on Academia and Life Science customers following Congress vote last week? And whether or not you believe that more significant budget flush in Life Science is something that could happen upon improving visibility?

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thank you, Hugo, for the question. So as we keep saying for the last, I think now, probably two quarters, it's interesting to note that the direct sales of QIAGEN to agencies like NIH or the CDC are doing well. We are not impacted at the moment by so called budget cuts. It is probably because, first of all, what they are using from QIAGEN are not big, big capital expense or budget, so I believe that we are probably below the radar screen when it comes to cuts and also because as they use mainly a lot of components like enzyme, oligos or sample prep, it's very difficult to substitute those products. Nonetheless, we are observing carefully the situation and it's clear that if those sales direct to NIH and CDC are not impacted, we are in a quite sluggish context in research and academia, especially on capital sales.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

I wouldn't say for everything, but for capital sales, we have said that many times. Now coming to what happened to the congress recommendation and vote last week. I think it's still early to say. I think it's also fair to insist that at the moment in The US, there is one main decision maker, and that decision maker is the president. So let's observe what's going to happen in the coming negotiation.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

QIAGEN will probably budget a decreased budget for NIH next year, but we also believe that the cuts will probably be less drastic than what was rumored a month or two months ago. So long story short, probably still a decrease in '26, probably to a lesser magnitude than what was said some time ago, but let's remain cautious and observe.

Operator

We'll take our next question from Dan Brennan with TD Cowen.

Daniel Brennan
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at TD Cowen

Great. Thank you. Thanks for the questions. Maybe just one just on the guide. I I know it was asked earlier, Terry, you just kind of mentioned it.

Daniel Brennan
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at TD Cowen

But given the fourth quarter guide does imply that, like, kind of flattish core growth, it it like, are you seeing anything today that would suggest it? Or is it just pure conservatism on that front? And then could you just give us what the breakout is for the discontinued product? Like, much much that's contributing to core growth in the back half of the year? And then the final point, know, Roland, you talked about you feel the guide is conservative.

Daniel Brennan
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at TD Cowen

Just kind of if you look at your bipolar guidance, which you've kind of maintained, what what you know, which area would you point to as the most conservative? Thank you.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Well done. I appreciate your stamina and push a lot, but but, I mean, I don't think that I heard Roland speaking about conservatism. Realism, I think, is the terminology used. And we are already performing better than the market. In addition to that, we are increasing our sales guidance for the year.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So it's very solid. Obviously, if you can beat that, you'll be the first to know. And again, in Q4, where I will focus is the core growth because in Q4, this is where also we might have a better base impact from Pneumodix and Dialynix. And so this is where probably the divergence between the total growth and the core growth will be higher. And I don't think that we said that it would be flattish for core growth in Q4, not at all. This is not in our new guidance.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Yes. On your question then on the details for the five plus growth, I think you're absolutely right. We feel very comfortable that we're going to deliver, as promised, the $14.19 for an aggregate. I think it's also quite obvious to see that some of them are doing very well.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

We talked today at length on kayastat and QuantiFERON, and it is not hard to predict that both probably do somewhat better than predicted. I think it's also very clear to say that QIA Acuity, on the one hand side, has very good positive growth rate in terms of consumables. But I think Kirill also alluded on the call, the instrumentation environment in the Life Science remains probably somewhat challenging. So that might come in probably close by, might be a bit lower. We will see that.

Roland Sackers
Roland Sackers
CFO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

But all in, we are above that. On the others, I think they are more or less on target. So I would say that it's probably the if you're looking for a trade off, which is probably a positive trade off, that is a trade off we are probably most likely going to face.

Operator

Thank you. We'll go to Michael Ryskin with Bank of America.

Michael Ryskin
Michael Ryskin
Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Great. Thanks for taking the question. I've got two. I'll just ask them both together. One, I think in the prepared remarks, you guys flagged China was down, I wanna say, teens.

Michael Ryskin
Michael Ryskin
Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch

If you could just a segment or product line sort of your expectation in China for the rest of the year. And then second would be, you know, the starting season. I think it's obligatory for someone to ask if there was pull forward or not, and I didn't hear that. So if you could just comment on any indication from any of your customers of stocking, any unusual timing on purchasing decisions, given concerns on tariffs and and other things down the road, just, you know, confidence that there's no weird ordering patterns. Thanks.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

Thanks, Michael. And we lost you for something like five or six seconds. So I I believe I got your question on China, especially in which field we were believing that it was more depressed or not. So so China for us, we haven't changed our mind. We don't see the market bouncing back at least before the 2026.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

It is now less than 4% of our revenues. We know that the local government is trying to help the market by pouring some incentives, for example, on capital expenses. At the same time, they continue also to push international company to localize, and it's also the VBP program. So I would keep the same attitude for China. It's too big of a market to be ignored.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

It's too specific to make it an investment priority. We see China being negative to the end of the year in the same basically percentage than H1. We don't see it really bouncing back in 2026. And as we always said, even when China will stabilise and normalise, we will not expect more than mid single digit growth from this country when it will normalise. That's our plan for China.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

For your question on QIAstat, no, there is absolutely no pool or inventory building from a customer ahead of the respiratory testing season. It's too early to say that it's going to be or it might be a strong respiratory season this year. We are observing what is happening, for example, in geographic like New Zealand, Australia and so on, but there is absolutely no not normal built on the numbers at 41% growth for Q2.

Operator

You. We will take our last question from Casey Woodrig with JPMorgan.

Casey Woodring
Casey Woodring
VP - Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

Great. Thanks for fitting me in, guys. Appreciate it. So I have two as well. The first one is just from a regional perspective.

Casey Woodring
Casey Woodring
VP - Equity Research at J.P. Morgan

I think you said Europe grew 8%, but Sample Tech in EMEA was down low singles. So just curious on the dynamics at play in Europe across the business. And then on QDI, how should we think about the back half and the cadence between 3Q and 4Q with the SaaS transition? And you just remind us what the exposure is between clinical and research customers there? It seems like clinical is clearly doing well while research is seeing some pressure in the market. So any color on on those pieces? Thank you.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

So for sample take, once again, EMEA is also contributing to the growth for automated solution. That's what I would highlight for this call, and this is where our strategy is, if that answers your questions. For QDI, the split life science or what we call discovery for QDI and clinical is still slightly in favour of discovery, but we are moving progressively to fiftyfifty percent split of sales, so a remarkably well balanced split between clinical research and academia. And for the split of transition to DSIS, I mean, it varies a bit quarter by quarter because sometimes those are deals that are signed for a longer period. So you saw that we accelerate that transition in Q1.

Thierry Bernard
Thierry Bernard
CEO, MD & Member of Management Board at Qiagen

It slowed down a bit in Q2, and we expect basically a continuous move now in Q3 and Q4.

John Gilardi
John Gilardi
VP & Head - Corporate Communications at Qiagen

So with that, we're gonna end the call here. Thank you very much for your participation. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out to Dominica and me. Thank you very much.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day. Goodbye.

Executives
    • John Gilardi
      John Gilardi
      VP & Head - Corporate Communications
    • Thierry Bernard
      Thierry Bernard
      CEO, MD & Member of Management Board
    • Roland Sackers
      Roland Sackers
      CFO, MD & Member of Management Board
Analysts
    • Salem Salem
      VP - Equity Research at Barclays
    • Aisyah Noor
      VP - Equity Research at Morgan Stanley
    • Jan Koch
      VP - Equity Research at Deutsche Bank
    • Tycho Peterson
      MD - Global Equities at Jefferies Financial Group
    • Harry Gillis
      VP - MedTech/Life Sciences Equity Research at Berenberg
    • Dan Leonard
      MD & Research Analyst at UBS Group
    • Jack Meehan
      Partner & Equity Research Analyst - Life Science Tools & Diagnostics at Nephron Research LLC
    • Doug Schenkel
      MD - Life Science Tools & Diagnostics at Wolfe Research LLC
    • Hugo Solvet
      Executive Director - Equity Research - Medical Technologies & Services at BNP Paribas
    • Daniel Brennan
      MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at TD Cowen
    • Michael Ryskin
      Managing Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
    • Casey Woodring
      VP - Equity Research at J.P. Morgan