Lea Knight
Analyst · Jefferies
Thank you, Stuart. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to first thank our team for their contributions to our first quarter results. We delivered strong revenue and adjusted earnings per share in the quarter, reflecting solid product demand, improving supply execution and remediation and the continued positive impact of our transformation. These results were made possible by the foundational work we have implemented over the past year, setting us up for better visibility and execution against our commitments. We are seeing that work translate into more consistent, predictable performance, exactly what we set out to achieve. Turning to Slide 5, I will cover our first quarter financial results. Our first quarter revenues were $392 million, representing an increase of 2.4% on a reported basis and an organic increase of 1.3%, reflecting continued strong demand for our portfolio, improved supply, increased visibility and strong performance in tissue reconstruction. Adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.54 compared to $0.41 in the prior year, primarily due to revenue growth, favorable product mix and savings driven by our recent transformation activities. We also saw a $0.02 net tariff benefit driven by the anticipated IEPA refund, partially offset by non-IEPA tariffs expensed in the period. Gross margin for the quarter was 64.1%, up 190 basis points from the prior year, reflecting favorable product mix, IEPA tariffs and reductions in remediation costs. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 19.4%, up 280 basis points versus Q1 2025, with the above-name factors impacting gross margins with additional benefits from our recent transformation. Cash flows from operations totaled $9.8 million in the first quarter and capital expenditures were $14.8 million. Before transitioning to our segment performance, you likely noticed in this morning's earnings press release that we are renaming our global business segments. Codman Specialty Surgical will now be called Specialty Surgery, and Tissue Technologies will now be called Tissue Reconstruction. Our product brand names will remain unchanged. Turning to Slide 6. We'll take a deeper dive into our Specialty Surgery revenue highlights for the first quarter. Specialty Surgery revenues was $283 million, up 0.9% on a reported basis, including a 140 basis point benefit from foreign exchange. On an organic basis, revenue was down 0.6% compared to the prior year. Global Neurosurgery delivered 1.9% organic growth, supported by broad demand strength, including Certas Plus, CUSA and BactiSeal, and we expect supply reliability and fulfillment to continue to improve. Sales of capital equipment grew low single digits, benefiting from continued capital funnel strength, including double-digit growth in CUSA and CereLink. Instruments posted a high single-digit decline, primarily due to order timing, which can vary quarter-to-quarter. We do expect growth for the full year. In ENT, revenue declined low single digits, reflecting strong growth in MicroFrance ENT instruments, offset by continued pressure in sinus balloons and commercial disruption impacts in other products. Revenue in our international markets declined low single digits as continued demand was offset by supply timing in the first quarter. Moving to our Tissue Reconstruction segment on Slide 7. Tissue Reconstruction revenues were $109 million, representing 6.7% growth on a reported and 6.4% on an organic basis compared to the prior year. The strong growth was partially offset by the impact of MediHoney, where we recorded sales for MediHoney in the first quarter of 2025 prior to the recall. In the first quarter, sales within our wound reconstruction franchise increased 6.2%. This robust performance was primarily fueled by double-digit growth in Integra Skin, mid-double-digit growth in DuraSorb and the PriMatrix launch. These results include a favorable comparison on Integra Skin, but also underscore the momentum we are seeing in our Wound Reconstruction business, and we remain highly optimistic about the continued growth in this segment. I'd like to now spend a few moments discussing the recent changes in Medicare reimbursement for skin substitutes. I want to provide clarity on what these changes mean and what they don't mean for our business. In the first quarter, CMS implemented several important changes to Medicare reimbursement rates and related billing rules for skin substitutes in the outpatient wound reconstruction market. Currently, approximately 90% of our Wound Reconstruction revenue is generated from the inpatient market. The inpatient market is not impacted by these changes. We remain excited by and confident about the inpatient market and the strength of our portfolio and market position. We do believe over time, the updated reimbursement framework will level the economic playing field and create upside opportunities for us. Our portfolio is priced in line with the new reimbursement rate with multiple size options available and supported by strong clinical evidence. We are already seeing increased demand from physicians for education and clarity on appropriate product selection, sizing and clinical considerations. Our market access and commercial teams are actively engaging customers as they adapt to the new reimbursement landscape, and we are seeing early indicators of incremental volume opportunities. Overall, we remain confident in our differentiated position in wound reconstruction, where we have the optimal portfolio to address a wide range of clinical needs and the economic value to compete effectively in both inpatient and outpatient markets. During the first quarter, private label sales increased 7.1%. This growth was primarily driven by a favorable comparison to the prior year. Finally, international sales in tissue reconstruction declined high single digits, reflecting double-digit growth in Integra Skin, which was offset by MediHoney. If you turn to Slide 8, I will provide a brief update on our balance sheet, capital structure and cash flow. Operating cash flow for the first quarter, which is historically our lowest quarter of the year, was $9.8 million, a $21 million improvement over the first quarter of 2025. This positive trend aligns with our full year expectation of an approximate $150 million increase in operating cash flow compared to 2025, driven by improvements in EBITDA, working capital and significantly reduced expenditures related to EU MDR compliance and the start-up costs for the Braintree facility. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $5 million with a free cash flow conversion rate of negative 12.1%. As of March 31, net debt was $1.6 billion, and our consolidated total leverage ratio was 4.1x within our current maximum allowable leverage of 5x. We expect to continue reducing our leverage over the course of the year, approaching the upper end of our target leverage range of 2.5 to 3.5x by the end of 2026. The company had total liquidity of approximately $488 million, including approximately $266 million in cash and short-term investments, with the remainder available under our revolving credit facility. Turning to Slide 9. I will provide our consolidated revenue and adjusted earnings per share guidance for the second quarter and full year 2026. For the second quarter, we expect revenues to be in the range of $410 million to $425 million, representing reported growth of minus 1.3% to positive 2.3% and organic growth of a range of minus 1.5% to positive 2.1% -- turning to the full year 2026. We are maintaining our revenue and organic growth guidance of $1.66 billion to $1.7 billion and 0.8% to 3.3%, respectively. We expect reported revenue growth in a range of 1.6% to 4.1%, which continues to reflect an approximate 80 basis point annual foreign exchange tailwind. The first half revenue at the midpoint of our guidance of approximately $809 million gives us confidence in our full year expectations. We anticipate a sequential increase in revenues as we progress through the year with an approximate $26 million step-up in the second quarter, driven by normal seasonality, supply improvement and instrument order timing. We then expect modest sequential growth in the third quarter and a further increase in the fourth quarter. This cadence is consistent with our typical seasonal pattern and underscores the improving stability and predictability of our revenue trends. Turning to adjusted earnings per share guidance for the second quarter and full year. For the second quarter, we expect adjusted earnings per share in the range of $0.44 to $0.52, representing approximately 6% growth at the midpoint. For the full year, we are updating our adjusted earnings per share guidance by $0.10 to a range of $2.40 to $2.50 as a result of favorable tariff outcomes in the first quarter relative to our February guidance. Our operational expectations for the year remain unchanged from our original full year guidance. At the midpoint of our updated guidance range, we now expect gross margins and adjusted EBITDA margins to improve 60 basis points and 100 basis points, respectively, compared to 2025. For your reference, we have included the key assumptions underlying our second quarter and full year guidance as well as the key modeling inputs on Slide 10. With that, I will now turn the call back to Stuart.