Sotera Health Company - Q4 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Vice President of Investor Relations, Jason Peterson. Jason, please go ahead.

Jason Peterson (VP of Investor Relations and Treasury)

Good morning. Thank you. Welcome to Sotera Health's fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. Today's press release and supplemental slides are available on the investor section of our website at soterahealth.com. This webcast is being recorded, and a replay will also be available on the investor section of the Sotera Health website shortly after the call. Joining me today are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Petras, and Chief Financial Officer, Jon Lyons. During the call today, some of our comments may be considered forward-looking statements. The matters addressed in these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied. Please refer to Sotera Health's SEC filings in the forward-looking statement slide at the beginning of the presentation for a description of these risks and uncertainties.

The company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Please note that during the discussion today, the company will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, tax rate applicable to net income, adjusted net income, adjusted EPS, adjusted free cash flow, net debt and net leverage ratio, as well as constant currency comparisons. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures for all relevant periods may be found in the schedules attached to the company's press release and in the supplemental slides to this presentation. The operator will be assisting with the Q&A portion of the call today. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. For further questions, feel free to reach out to the investor relations team. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Sotera Health Chairman and CEO, Michael Petras.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. This morning, we announced another strong year of performance, extending our track record of year-over-year revenue growth to 20 consecutive years. In 2025, the total company revenue increased 5.7% to $1.164 billion, or 5.2% growth on a constant currency basis versus 2024. Adjusted EBITDA increased 8.2% or 7.8% on a constant currency basis, with margins expanding to 51%, an increase of nearly 120 basis points. We also delivered adjusted free cash flow of over $200 million in 2025. Our results demonstrate strong execution, growing demand for our mission-critical services, and disciplined financial management. The team's performance in 2025 positions us well for sustained growth ahead. We also had several notable achievements during the year.

Our customer satisfaction exceeded 80%, underscoring our commitment to delivering excellent service. We advanced our portfolio across several key areas, including our commercial initiatives, continued to build momentum with revenue from XBU customers expanding 9% year-over-year. Sterigenics delivered approximately 8% constant currency revenue growth versus 2024, driven by improved volume and mix. Significant progress was also made on the EO facility enhancements program, as well as the construction of the new X-ray facility, which is planned to open in 2026. Nordion delivered a strong year, achieving approximately 9% constant currency revenue growth. In the fourth quarter, the team signed a cobalt development agreement with Westinghouse and PSEG. They secured a 25-year Class 1B license renewal for our Ottawa facility, which is the longest ever issued by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Nelson Labs delivered core lab testing growth during the year. They expanded their margins by 312 basis points and made progress on its clean room investment. On the capital markets front, we reduced borrowing costs by 75 basis points on our $1.4 billion term loan and paid down $86 million of debt, resulting in $13 million of annual interest savings. We also upsized and extended our revolver, increasing liquidity by $175 million. Sotera Health public float increased to 80% of our outstanding shares during 2025. We continue to strengthen our corporate governance with the appointment of a lead independent director. As you may have seen, we welcomed Richard Kyle to the board earlier this month.

Richard's leadership experience as a public company CEO and his extensive experience in operations and governance, along with his strong financial acumen, will serve as tremendous assets as we continue to grow. We remain actively engaged with our shareholders on many corporate responsibility initiatives. 2025 was a strong first step in executing the 2025-2027 long-range plan we presented on our November 2024 Investor Day, we expect this year to represent another meaningful year of progress towards those goals. Earlier today, we issued our 2026 outlook.

For the full year, we expect total revenue to increase to a range of $1.233 billion-$1.251 billion, representing constant currency growth of 5%-6.5% versus 2025, and adjusted EBITDA to grow to a range of $632 million-$641 million, or 5.5%-7% constant currency growth. Before I hand it over to Jon, I'd like to highlight a management transition. As you may have seen in our press release this morning, effective April 1st of this year, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Alex Dimitrief transition to an outside advisor to the company.

I would like to thank Alex for his leadership and service the past 3 years. We are grateful that he will continue to support the company going forward as an advisor. We are excited to announce that Erika Ostrowski, who has served for the last 2 years as a Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary under Alex's leadership, will be promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Sotera Health. After demonstrating strong leadership, sound judgment, and a deep understanding of our business, Erika is well positioned for continued success in her new role. Jon will take us through our 4th quarter and full year 2025 financials and our 2026 outlook in more depth.

Jonathan M. Lyons (CFO)

Thank you, Michael. I'll begin with our consolidated fourth quarter and full year 2025 results and close with additional detail on our 2026 outlook. For the quarter, total company revenues increased 4.6% to $303 million, or 2.5% on a constant currency basis versus Q4 2024. The year-over-year comparison reflects the expected impact of Cobalt-60 harvest timing at Nordion. Adjusted EBITDA grew 2.7% to $157 million, or 0.5% on a constant currency basis, while adjusted EBITDA margins were 51.8% for the quarter. Interest expense was $35 million in the quarter, a $6 million improvement versus Q4 2024. Net income was $35 million, or $0.12 per diluted share.

Adjusted EPS increased to $0.26, up $0.05 from the prior year, driven by a lower tax rate, as well as strong operating performance and lower interest expense, partially offset by higher depreciation. Now, let's take a closer look at our segment performances for the fourth quarter as compared to the same period last year. Sterigenics revenue improved 10.6% to $198 million, or 8% on a constant currency basis. Growth was driven by 4.3% favorable pricing, 3.7% volume and mix, as well as a 2.6% foreign currency benefit. Segment income increased 10.4% to $110 million, or 7.8% on a constant currency basis, reflecting favorable pricing, volume, mix, and foreign currency, partially offset by inflation.

As expected, Nordion's revenue decreased 12.3% to $50 million, as the timing of Cobalt-60 harvest schedules drove unfavorable volume and mix of 15%, which was partially offset by 2.4% favorable pricing. Nordion segment income decreased by 18.9% to $29 million. Segment income margins decreased 466 basis points to 57.5%, primarily driven by the lower volumes and unfavorable product mix. Nelson Labs revenue increased 2.3% to $55 million, which was nearly flat on a constant currency basis. Favorable pricing of 3.2%, foreign exchange of 2.5%, and core lab testing growth were partially offset by lower expert advisory services revenue. Segment income rose 1.9% to $18 million, a decline of 1.2% on a constant currency basis.

Growth was driven by favorable pricing, growth in core lab testing and foreign currency, partially offset by lower expert advisory services revenue and higher costs. Let's turn to the full year 2025 results as compared to the prior year on a consolidated basis. We delivered revenue growth of 5.7% to $1.164 billion, or 5.2% on a constant currency basis. adjusted EBITDA improved 8.2% to $593.8 million, or 7.8% on a constant currency basis, resulting in adjusted EBITDA margins of 51%, an improvement of 118 basis points. Interest expense improved $9 million to $156 million, driven by lower interest rates, the favorable repricing of our term loan, and $86 million of debt paydown.

Reported net income for 2025 was $78 million, or $0.27 per diluted shares. Adjusted EPS for the year was $0.86 per weighted average diluted share, an increase of $0.16 versus 2024, driven by operational growth, a lower tax rate, and improved interest expense, partially offset by higher depreciation. I will now turn to the balance sheet, cash generation, and capital deployment for the full year 2025. Adjusted free cash flow was $210 million, putting us well on track to achieve the 2025-2027 cumulative goal of $500 million-$600 million we set at our November 2024 Investor Day. Capital expenditures totaled $138 million in 2025. The company continues to maintain a strong liquidity position.

As of December 31st, 2025, we have approximately $940 million of available liquidity, including $345 million of unrestricted cash and nearly $600 million of capacity under our revolving credit facility. Net leverage improved to 3.2x at year-end from 3.7x in 2024 as we continued progressing toward our 2-3x long-term target. Turning to our 2026 outlook. For the full year, we expect total company revenue to grow to a range of $1.233 billion-$1.251 billion, representing 5%-6.5% constant currency growth and an estimated 100 basis point foreign currency benefit as compared to 2025.

We expect adjusted EBITDA to improve to a range of $632 million-$641 million, representing 5.5%-7% constant currency growth and an estimated 100 basis point impact from foreign currency. The foreign exchange benefit is expected to be weighted toward the first half of 2026, with the largest impact expected in the first quarter. Total company pricing is expected to be approximately the midpoint of our 3%-4% long-term range. For 2026, we expect Sterigenics to deliver mid to high single digits constant currency revenue growth year-over-year, with the first quarter anticipated to grow in the mid single digits range. We expect the first quarter revenue to be the lightest of the year. We expect Nordion to grow constant currency revenue in the low to mid single digits in 2026.

Nordion's first half 2026 revenue is expected to represent approximately 40%-45% of full year revenue, with Q2 2026 revenue expected to be heavier than Q1 2026. For Nelson Labs, we expect full year 2026 constant currency revenue growth to be in the low single digits, with Q1 growth expected to decline low to mid single digits versus Q1 2025. Additionally, Q1 2026 revenue is expected to be the lightest quarter of the year. For 2026, we expect interest expense between $135 million-$145 million based on the current forward rate curve. We are projecting an effective tax rate applicable to adjusted net income in the range of 27%-29%.

Adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $0.93-$1.01, driven by operational growth as well as improved interest expense. We expect depreciation to increase in 2026, consistent with the step up we experienced in 2025. We expect a fully diluted share count in the range of 289 million-291 million shares on a weighted average basis. Capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $175 million-$225 million in 2026. We expect to make continued progress in reducing our net leverage ratio again in 2026. Finally, as usual, our guidance does not assume any M&A activity. I will now turn the call back over to Michael for closing remarks.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Jon. As we move into 2026, we are encouraged by our momentum, strengthened balance sheet, we are confident in our ability to drive long-term growth, strong cash flow, and shareholder value. We are on track to meet the commitments we made in our November 2024 Investor Day, I am confident in our team's ability to execute and deliver for our customers and investors. We remain focused on executing on the priorities we've laid out previously, which are excellence in serving our customers with end-to-end solutions, winning growth markets, driving operational excellence to enhance free cash flow, disciplined capital deployment. At this point, operator, let's open the call up for questions and answers.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one one on your touchtone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up a handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question from the queue, please press star than one one again. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. All right, one moment before our first question. Our first question comes from Sean Dodge with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Sean Dodge (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Maybe just starting on the guidance and the EBITDA margins, at the midpoint implies about 20 basis points of expansion. That's on top of a, you know, pretty significant improvement you drove in 2025. What you're targeting this year, is that all just operating leverage, or is there any other dynamics kind of happening there worth calling out? Are you taking costs out, adding costs in anywhere? Are there any unusual mix impacts or anything else like that? I guess it looks like Nelson will be a little bit of a, kind of a slower grower, so you get a little bit of a mixed benefit from that. Anything else worth highlighting?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Hey, Sean, thanks for the question. No, you're spot on with the midpoint of the guide and what it implies. No, it's nothing abnormal going on, just normal operating leverage and running the business.

Sean Dodge (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. Then on Sterigenics, you've mentioned recently you had one or at least one client that had been insourcing sterilization that's now chosen to outsource to you all. Is there any more background you can share on and their decision? Was that all because of NESHAP, or were there some other factors driving that decision to finally outsource? Then maybe anything on, like, the magnitude timing of that shift. I know you're not building these into numbers, but are we starting to see kind of ice break now and the backdrop being set for more of these decisions to happen?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Sean, this is Michael. Good morning. I would say we don't, we don't see... I think your words are ice breaking, or we're not seeing significant shifts in that, in that arena at this point in time. You know, the compliance period's out for two more years. The one customer you're referencing that we've talked about in the past, we'll start to bring some volume in late this year, and it'll roll in through 2027 and 2028. You know, there's lots of factors that go into the decisions, you know, that's ultimately the customer's choice. I'm sure the requirements of the new regulations was a factor. I can't speak on behalf of the customer and all the details, also I've got to respect some confidentiality we have in place with them.

Overall, you know, we're progressing, as we told you previously, that that customer would be transitioning over to us with their sterilization volume.

Sean Dodge (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. Thanks again.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Sean.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question.

Our next question comes from Patrick Donnelly with Citi. Your line is open.

Patrick Donnelly (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, guys. Thank you for taking the questions. Michael, maybe one for you on Sterigenics. Can you just talk about how you're thinking about 2026, both on the volume and pricing side? We'd love just a little color on areas like bioprocessing, med tech. How are you thinking about just those categories improving throughout 2026 and what you're seeing on the demand front?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Patrick. I would say, you know, we've given out a long-range guide for the company at 3%-4% price. Sterigenics, you know, came in in 2025 on the high end of that range, which is what we called for. We'd expect the same thing to happen in 2026. Bioprocessing, you know, we have a very small base, but we had significant growth that we experienced last year. We'd expect that to continue as we move into 2026. In med tech volumes, you know, we saw growth in volume and mix as the year progressed, and we expect that to continue into 2026 as well. We're seeing across multiple categories, as we referenced on our last call, and I'd say we're seeing the consistency there as well.

The only other thing I'd call out, Patrick, as I think about is, you know, the commercial segment has been a little bit more challenging, some of the volumes there, you know, as we wrapped up 2025, looking into 2026. Overall, the core volumes, which are really the foundation for the business, is med tech, and those are in a pretty good spot.

Patrick Donnelly (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, that's helpful. I think just Nelson Labs, I know you guys have the EAS headwinds. Those are going to ease. Sounds like Q1, Q2, maybe down a little bit. How do you think about the progression through the year there, and as that headwind eases, maybe for Jon on the Nelson Labs margins, I know that's a big driver for margin expansion. Is 2026 getting back to that low to mid 30%? It's just, would love some color there. Thank you, guys.

Jonathan M. Lyons (CFO)

I'll start with the second part of your question there, Patrick, on the margin side. You know, we see Nelson solidly staying in the low to mid-30s again this year. Q1 could, you know, is being the lightest quarter. I expect on the lower side of the margin rate. You know, the first part of your question, could you repeat again, was about Nelson progression throughout the year on the revenue side?

Patrick Donnelly (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Yes. Yeah, just with the EAS headwinds, how you're thinking about it?

Jonathan M. Lyons (CFO)

Yeah, I would say that the biggest headwind we have, the expert advisory comp actually has a little bit trailing into Q1 comp challenge. We should improve from here, and this should be the last quarter where we face that kind of headwind. It's a lower headwind than it's been, but still meaningful to the quarter.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Remember, you know, as Jon stated, first quarters typically are softest quarter in that business. Every year it's like that. Margins and volumes will be softer in the first quarter.

Patrick Donnelly (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Yep, got it. Thanks, Michael.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Luke Sergott with Barclays. Your line is open.

Sam Eiber (Equity Research Associate)

This is Sam for Luke Sergott. Thanks for taking our question. Maybe just piggybacking off of Patrick Donnelly's question on 1Q guide, Sterigenics ramping a little bit throughout the year. I think you talked a little bit about how volumes are kind of accelerating out of the year, but if you could just talk about any dynamics at play there, with the slightly slower start to the year for Sterigenics. Thanks.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Thanks, Sam. You know, Sterigenics, like Nelson, typically the first quarter is the softest quarter. We also, kind of where we sit today, we're seeing a soft start to the year. Some of that's shutdown related, some of it also, there is some weather impact that we felt as well. We're guiding towards mid-single digits as we kind of look at the first quarter for Sterigenics.

Sam Eiber (Equity Research Associate)

Got it. That's helpful. Then if you could talk a little bit about the X-ray facility, when exactly it opens in 2026, maybe, any tailwinds associated with the facility opening. Maybe just talk about a little bit on the strategy behind opening the X-ray facility and how bringing in that capability helps to serve customers and create new opportunities.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Sam, we, you know, we're a full supplier across sterilization, all the modalities. You know, we made the strategic decision over three years ago when, you know, we go through a three-year strap plan every year with our board, and in the process of that, you know, Mike and the team laid out a strategic plan to build some more X-ray capability beyond the capability we already have today. We expect that to open up in the second half of this year. We're in a qualification with our customers. You know, just like any other facility, that'll have a ramp period over time. There'll be a little impact in 2026, and then we'll start to see that, you know, accelerating in 2027 and 2028 and beyond. This was a long-term strategic investment. We got to co-locate with the gamma facilities.

We're working with some customers on qualifications now. Again, it's more part of our longer strategic plan to make sure we have full service offering across all modalities.

Sam Eiber (Equity Research Associate)

Got it. Appreciate it, Michael.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Brett Fishman with KeyBanc. Your line is open.

Brett Fishman (VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Just, maybe moving past the segment conversation. I think at a high level, you noted that revenue from the cross-selling or XBU customer base was up 9% year-over-year in 2025. I was curious if you could maybe dive in a little bit. I'm curious how big that group of customers is as a percentage of total, and then maybe any other color on what you think drove that excess 400 basis points of growth within that cohort relative to total company?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

... Yeah, Brett, we've got several activities going on across BU. We've got, you know, several hundreds of customers that are doing business across both platforms, and then we also, within that, we have strategic pilots of some key segments that we're really looking to accelerate on. We've seen significant growth, as I said, the 9%, but even within those pilots, it's even greater than that. The team's doing a really good job in leveraging the value prop across Sotera Health and being able to bring the capabilities end-to-end. We, you know, we continue to look at our customer satisfaction scores. You know, Sterigenics overall, well, I'd say first of all, in the company, they're over 80% overall. Sterigenics numbers were even significantly higher last year. The XBU customers continue to be above that average.

We'll continue to look for opportunities to accelerate that. We've got a lot of commercial work going on with the teams, and we're hopeful to see even more rewards from that in 2026.

Casey Woodring (VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

All right, great. Then for a follow-up, maybe just thought I'd bring up capital allocation. I think, you know, the story continues to get better here, and, you know, net debt and net leverage are continuing to gradually improve. Just wondering if there's, you know, any slight marginal change in how you're thinking about, you know, further activity here in terms of, like, organic investment and debt reduction versus the potential to see maybe a bolt-on acquisition this year. Thank you very much.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah. Thanks, Brett. You know, our priorities are staying the same as what we told you before. Our first priority is to fund organic investments and making sure we're getting the appropriate returns on that. We committed to a free cash flow target for the 2025-2027 period. We're still committed to that today. The guide that we gave you in outlook for CapEx for 2026 fits within that framework. You know, the business will continue to do well and generate cash flow and being prioritized as we've talked about in the past.

Casey Woodring (VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

All right, great. Thanks again.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Max Smock with William Blair. Your line is open.

Christine Rains (Healthcare Equity Research Associate and Equity Analyst)

Hi, good morning. It's Christine Rains on for Max Smock. Just hoping to circle back to your two active Sterigenics growth projects. On the X-ray facility, knowing the past, you've pointed to a roughly 40% customer utilization target before breaking ground, and instead of the project did not meet the threshold, but obviously it's strategically important. Curious how much below that 40% typical benchmark you're currently seeing, and if you're assuming any margin dilution for the segment in 2027 until utilization ramps, and then also if you can give us some color on the sterilization modality for the other facility build.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Okay, I'm sorry. You've got, like, seven questions within that one. Let me try to break this down. A couple perspectives.

Christine Rains (Healthcare Equity Research Associate and Equity Analyst)

Okay, my apologies. Thank you.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Okay. That's okay. Let me just walk through it. We've stated in the past, we target, you know, before we put shovels in the ground, 40% utilization. You know, that's what we hope to have committed with our customers. This one's a little bit lighter than that one. We've also said we target 20% IRR on our investments. Obviously, if we're putting cobalt in an existing facility or an EO chamber in an existing facility, that's above the 20%. Greenfields are below that. This one will be below that, obviously, because it's a complete greenfield. Strategically, it's important to us because we think there's some segments of the market that would like X-ray, we're bringing that service to them. We still think that the other modalities will be, by and large, the largest segments in modalities.

We will see this ramping up in the second half of the year. I'm trying to think I'll throw all your questions. On Sterigenics margins, so, you know, Jon mentioned that we'll have slight margins improvements in 2026, and, you know, that'll be driven predominantly by Sterigenics, where we sit today. That encompasses some of the costs that'll come in with low volumes on the X-ray facility, and we'll see that phenomenon continue as we look into 2027 as well. I think I've addressed all of them. I don't know if I've missed anything else.

Christine Rains (Healthcare Equity Research Associate and Equity Analyst)

Yeah, no, I think you got the majority of them. I was just wondering if you have any color on the sterilization modality for the other facility. I think your deck pointed to two growth projects in Sterigenics.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Oh, the second facility. No, we have not gone ahead into detail. You know, we're working with our customers on that facility, and we have not gone ahead and publicly released, you know, what kind of facility or where that's going to be at this point in time.

Christine Rains (Healthcare Equity Research Associate and Equity Analyst)

Got it. Thank you for taking our questions.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Casey Woodring with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Casey Woodring (VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe the first one, just any changes on how you're thinking about the competitive positioning in Sterigenics in light of NESHAP? I know that that was a focus coming out of the last Analyst Day, just in terms of opportunity to gain share from smaller players. Maybe same question on the Nelson side. Maybe just walk us through the latest and greatest on the current competitive landscape there.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Thanks, Casey. On the Sterigenics competitive scenario, I would say, as I mentioned earlier in my comments, NESHAP has got a two-year extension period, so we're seeing discussions about insourcing and outsourcing, slowing down. That doesn't mean customers aren't having discussions with us overall on what their strategic plans on their supply chain. Those have always been ongoing, but I don't think there's the urgency that people saw when, you know, the April 2026 deadline was in place. That's now been extended. You know, we continue to compete very well. Our customer satisfaction scores were up significantly last year versus the prior year. We'll see how 2026s are when we do the surveys here coming out shortly. But overall, I think Sterigenics is well positioned, and, you know, it's the strength of the business model.

It's the global platform, it's consistency in our quality systems, it's our ability for our customers to contract with us on a global basis and us being a full service provider, that helps take care of them in all modalities and all geographies. I would say Sterigenics continues to be very well positioned. You know, Nelson Labs is, you know, a very fragmented market overall, but that business is really good at service and quality, and the reputation is what really matters there with science, and the team continues to do very well. We've got pockets in that business, as you know, the core lab testing has improved over the last year.

The advisory business has been a little bit more choppy because of some of the remediation projects that have come and gone based on some of the FDA activity. Overall, you know, we continue to accelerate in the marketplace. Our customer stat scores are good. Our NPS, we also do a, you know, an NPS, a Net Promoter Score, that continues to perform very, very well. I'd say, you know, we're very well situated, but it's a different dynamic, Casey, in that market. It's a more fragmented market on a global basis. We do, you know, we do 800-900 tests in that business across our facilities around the world.

Casey Woodring (VP and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Understood. Maybe just a quick follow-up. Any update in terms of the timing of, when we could expect any updates on the litigation front? Thank you.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

No. I mean, there's nothing materially changed on timing. you know, I think when I look at it, there's no trial set for this year other than the public nuisance case in New Mexico in the July time period. Other than that, there isn't any material change in timelines.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Jason Bednar with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

Jason Bednar (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Mike, I wanted to come back to one of the comments you made just on, you're responding to the first quarter Sterigenics guide. Just unpack the comment, if you could, around the slower start to the year and the weather headwinds on Sterigenics. Were those comments connected, or was that something where you're saying demand was a little bit slower to start the year, and weather has been creating some challenges as well?

for the weather comment particular, just if you could quantify how large is that headwind, is that something that you've, like, you feel like you can overcome here within the first quarter, or does it take a couple of quarters to, you know, overcome and catch up on those, you know, that impact or those headwinds?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, Jason, good morning. I would say a couple of comments. My comments were focused around we have some shutdowns in the quarter, and weather has had some impact that we felt. The guide that we gave today, mid-single digits, is consistent with what we feel we can deliver, and also the guide for the year, mid to high single digits, is we're confident in our ability to deliver that as well. I would say that's how you should think about it.

Jason Bednar (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Okay. All right, fair enough. Maybe longer term or maybe medium term to long term, wanted to ask in the context of future CapEx and free cash flow. You have a couple of capacity expansion plans underway. We've been talking about those here today. I guess, do you still feel comfortable with those long-term targets? I think you do. Just you're reiterating them today, how do you think about those in the context of medium term, long-term planning for additional capacity expansion? When do those additional capacity expansions or greenfield opportunities, when do those discussions happen? How are you planning for those today, knowing you're looking out to 2028, 2029 and 2030? Hopefully, that question makes sense.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

I think I got it, Jason. As I mentioned multiple times as well as this morning, you know, we do a three-year strat plan with our leadership team and the Board every August, and we kind of lay out the next 3 years of where we see the capital demands. That really was the foundation of the Investor Day presentation we gave for the 2025-2027 time period. As we continue to roll forward and look at opportunities beyond that, we continue to make sure that we've got the facility and capacity in place to deliver the long-term growth that we need. You know, we will continue to refresh that and provide updates where appropriate on future outlooks.

For the time periods that we've given guidance around, 2025-2027, you know, we feel confident in our ability to deliver the free cash flow that we've outlined in that time period.

Jason Bednar (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

All right. Got it. Makes sense. Thanks so much. Congrats again.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Ryan Halstead with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Ryan Halstead (Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe just to ask a question on the Nordion segment. Can you maybe provide a little more color on some of the headwinds you saw in the quarter? Certainly in, especially given that, you know, you were going up against maybe some lighter comps. You obviously talked about the timing of the Cobalt-60 harvest schedule. You know, maybe just any color around, you know, what were the drivers there, including that timing impact?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

You know, Ryan, this is Michael. I would just say it was driven by harvest schedules, right? We called this, we expected it to be down. It's really, you know, it's not a demand problem, it's a supply timing situation. Remember how this works: You get cobalt out of nuclear reactors. Their primary purpose in life is to generate electricity for consumers and businesses. We work with utilities on when they're going to do a shutdown, so we could harvest the cobalt out of the facilities, out of the reactors. We have very good visibility. That will shift every now and then, a couple of weeks or months here and there, but we have good visibility. We anticipated this.

We projected that to the investment committee to make sure they understood it. We're not concerned at all about the fourth quarter from a volume perspective. We knew that. We had good visibility, and that's why we also give you visibility on how we think of first half, second half. You could start to circle in and hone in on how those harvests will work in the year to come. All right? There was no surprise about that. Overall, you know, it came in as expected, or it's actually slightly better even.

Ryan Halstead (Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you. Then for my follow-up, just any updated views on the potential impact of onshoring by your customers, especially, you know, given the dynamic environment with tariffs and the government maybe proposing some regulations with incentives for manufacturers to, you know, try to bring more of that manufacturing onshore? Just curious your thoughts on impact to your business.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, great. Remember, the majority of our business is service business. We're not really impacted by tariffs. The one place where we have product is the Cobalt product, that's USMCA certified. We don't have any tariffs. I just want to kind of level set that. Now, talking about the bigger macro environment, we've not seen a significant movement at the onshoring, if that were to happen, and, you know, customers are having discussions with us, but we're not seeing a significant investment commitment at this point in time. If it were to happen, we'd be very well situated because we have a very significant position in the marketplace here in the United States, where we anticipate that onshoring, if it were to occur, would happen here.

Ryan Halstead (Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you. Appreciate all the color.

Operator (participant)

One moment before our next question. Our next question comes from David Windley with Jefferies. Your line is open.

David Windley (Managing Director and Founding Member of Healthcare Equity Research Team)

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Michael, I was wondering, in regard to the guidance, where are your areas of higher or lower visibility? Said differently, what could firm up as the year progresses that takes you to the higher end of the range?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, David, it's pretty consistent year in, year out. I sound like a broken record, but it's volume. It's the volume and mix piece that would tend us towards the high end. As you know, Nordion, we have probably the best visibility, Sterigenics less so. We've got, you know, a quarter so out, and then in Nelson Labs is more transactional in nature, and some of those validation projects could take a little longer. I'd say in that order, but the biggest thing that could drive us to the higher end of that would be volume and mix in Sterigenics and Nelson Labs.

David Windley (Managing Director and Founding Member of Healthcare Equity Research Team)

If I asked you to take that down a level, would you, like, you commented on this a little earlier in the call, but, like, med device versus bioprocessing, you know, your kind of end markets, is one of those firming up or accelerating more than the other vis-a-vis visibility?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

You know, I got to think about that. You know, we're seeing bioprocessing with nice growth, but we're in a pretty small share position. Maybe Our sales guys really think we've picked up a little share. I'm not sure we have. We're seeing nice growth overall in that area, but it's a small category. I'd say they're both in a pretty good spot right now, David, but just recognize bioprocessing is a much smaller base for us.

David Windley (Managing Director and Founding Member of Healthcare Equity Research Team)

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Michael Polark with Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Michael Polark (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Good morning. One of the things I heard on Sterigenics was, the commercial segment volumes are challenged. Michael, can you unpack that? What, remind us what product categories are commercials, is food and consumer products, or something else, and, you know, what those challenges are, why you perceive them to be?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Mike, that's reflecting on the comment I made earlier. Commercial is exactly what you talked about. There's some electronics in there's some food in there's some spice in there's some other categories as well, it's just been a choppy market. Coming out of COVID, it really hasn't been very stable. It's been moving around quite a bit. We continue to see that going forward here, we're planning around that. I would say that would be it. Now, again, it's a small portion of the total. I think it's less than 16%. I can't remember what the exact numbers. It's a small portion of Sterigenics in context-wise.

Michael Polark (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Helpful. Just to follow up to that, and then one other topic, please. When you say challenged, like, growing, but just low growth or shrinking?

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Combination. I'd say more probably shrinking than growing. I mean, it's been choppy. Some customers have redesigned products and don't have the need. you know, I can think of, as I say this, I'm thinking of one customer that had some, you know, a packaging product for the food market, and they've changed their designs coming out of COVID. Again, that's not impacting 2026. That's just, I'm looking backwards when I make that comment. so it's.

Michael Polark (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

it's just been, you know, that, there's a churn in that customer base. We're seeing it. It's just a little heavier than we've seen in the past. It's been like this since 2020, 2021.

Michael Polark (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Helpful. I appreciate that color. And then the other one, also Sterigenics. Just as you reflect on calendar year 2025 and the performance and the acceleration in volume growth, the topic of tariffs, you know, we've discussed on prior calls, do you believe the tariff landscape contributed to customers kind of building some inventory ahead of that as part of their mitigation plans? Any. What's the latest perspective on whether that was, you know, good, neutral, in last year? Thank you.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Yeah, we'd see, as we've stated a couple of times, we've not seen a material impact from the tariff side that we've been able to detect. I referenced the second quarter, there was, you know, a bump up in some stat volume with a, in a particular facility I was in, and I said, "Hey, what happened here?" They said, "Oh, you know, the customer's trying to get some stuff in before tariffs." That's not, you know, that's a facility that's got 50 customers. This was a customer that I happened to notice when I was going through some analytics with the team out there. We're just not seeing material impact from that, Mike. I know people have asked us that question, there's nothing consistently showing up from our customers.

We're seeing, you know, nice, consistent volumes out of the Sterigenics side as we wrapped up 2025, which was good.

Michael Polark (Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back to Michael for any further remarks.

Michael Petras (Chairman and CEO)

Great. We thank you for your time this morning. You know, hopefully, you can see we had a nice finish to 2025. We're set up for a very strong 2026, and what I want you to take out of this is this business is built to perform. We've had 20 consecutive years of growth, strong cash flow generation, strong margins, sticky customer relationships. This business is built to run and perform, and what we're gonna try doing is making sure you have transparency of what we expect out of the business, and we're just gonna keep executing against it. Thank you for your time today, and wish you all a good week. Bye-bye.