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GN Store Nord A/S Q3 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Rune Sandager
Head of Investor Relations
Hello everyone, and welcome to GN's conference call in relation to a Q3 report announced this morning. Participating in today's call is CEO Peter Karlstromer, CFO Soren Jelert, and myself, Rune Sandager, Head of Investor Relations. The presentation is expected to last around 15 minutes, after which we will turn to the Q&A session. The presentation is already uploaded on GN.com. And with that, I'm happy to hand over to Peter for some opening remarks.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Thank you Rune and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Let me start with some highlights for the group in the quarter. The key message for the quarter is that our recent product launches are driving a clear improvement in business momentum. In the quarter we delivered organic revenue growth of 2% alongside significant margin expansion. In enterprise, we saw continued market recovery, leading to organic revenue growth of 1%. The Evolve Free portfolio performs well, supported by solid momentum in North America and APAC, and a gradual improvement in EMEA. We have now launched Evolve Free across the premium, mid-tier and part of the entry-level segments. Premium sellout remained solid in the quarter, while the mid- and entry-level products that started shipment in the quarter saw strong initial channel reception and double-digit selling growth. Gaming delivered 5% organic growth in a recovering market. This was supported by further headset market share gains led by Nova Pro Omni. Both divisions maintained strong underlying gross margins, while both divisions benefited from the tariff refunds received in the quarter. In addition, we continued to prioritize selective investments in the channel to support future growth of recent product launches. Overall, this quarter demonstrates that innovation is translating into stronger commercial momentum and improved profitability. Let me continue with a few more highlights on enterprise. Following a few difficult years of market adjustments, it's encouraging to see the ongoing stabilization in the market. Reflecting our recent successful launches, our enterprise division delivered 1% organic revenue growth in the quarter. We saw further improvement in the headset segment driven by the successful expansion of Evolve Free across premium, mid-tier and part of the entry-level segments, while the meeting room segment delivered healthy growth Revenue from frontline worker solutions and Falcom was expected in line with last year. Regionally, North American APAC performed well, while EMEA remained challenging, but continues its gradual improvement, supported by demand for wall-free and a more balanced development between sell-in and sell-out. The adjusted gross margin increased to 60.5%. This includes 78 million Danish kronor of tariff refunds, while the underlying gross margin level of 56% remains stable. Adjusted divisional profit increased by 9% to 601 million Danish kronor, corresponding to a margin of 36.7%, reflecting the development in gross margin, while making deliberate channel investments to support the ongoing rollout of Evolve Free. Let me put the contribution from the new Evolve Free portfolio in more context on the next slide. The Evolve Free portfolio now addresses approximately half of the enterprise business and we're an important driver of the return to growth in the quarter. In premium Bluetooth, we have now seen three consecutive quarters of solid market momentum. This gives us confidence that the initial launch momentum is being sustained by end customer demand. The mid-tier and entry-level products are still at an early stage of their launch, but the initial channel reception has been strong, with solid double-digit selling growth observed in Q3 26. Moreover, as we shared before, we will maintain and accelerate the cadence of product introduction also into 27, including both portfolio refreshes and extensions across the remaining headset categories. We therefore see further opportunities to broaden the contribution from innovation and support the continued improvement in enterprise over the coming period. Turning now to gaming, where strong product execution also supported both growth and profitability. Gaming delivered 5% organic revenue growth in a recovering market. The performance was led by headset market share gains driven by Nova Pro Omni. Keyboards also contributed positively. Regionally, North America and EMEA delivered strong growth, while APEC declined against the challenging comparison base. The adjusted gross margin increased to 52.9%. This includes 75 million Danish kroner of tariff refunds, but importantly, the underlying gross margin also improved through pricing discipline and the success of our new products. Excluding the tariff refunds, the gross margin was the highest we ever have done in gaming, which is a strong testimony to our internal efforts in driving synergies across our business. This strong gross margin is achieved in spite of the ongoing tariff payments. At just the division of profit reached 179 million Danish kroner, corresponding to a margin of 28.5%. At the same time, we continue to target the channel investments to capture the growth opportunities ahead of the important fourth quarter. One of those opportunities is a recent renewal of our MICE portfolio, which I will cover in the next slide. Rival Pro and Sensor Pro are important launches for SteelSeries. They renew an aging part of our MICE portfolio and are designed to support both growth and modern development in the periods to come. The product combines unlimited 8K performance with the world's first pure ultra-wideband wireless MICE technology. They also offer advanced aim tools and software tuning together with several form factors for different fits, shapes and grip styles. As with all SteelSeries products, development has been grounded in the needs of serious gamers and why the mice have been tested with some of the world's leading esports professionals with very good feedback. The early market response has been encouraging, reviews have been very strong, consumer engagement with the launch campaign has been significant, and we saw a high initial channel demand in October. The launch strengthens our position in a category where our revenue exposure is currently small, giving us meaningful room to grow over time. With that, I would hand over to Soren to take you through the group financials, our guidance, an update on the hearing transaction, and our capital distribution plans.
Søren Jelert
CFO
Thank you, Peter. Let me start with the financial performance of our continuing operations in the quarter. Group organic revenue growth was 2%, whereas reported revenue growth was 3%. The adjusted gross margin was 58.4% compared to 49% last year, driven by healthy underlying growth margin in both enterprise and gaming, as well as the tariff refunds received in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to a margin of 18.2% compared to 8.8% last year. This improvement was achieved by making targeted challenge investments in our ongoing launches. Free cash flow excluding M&A was 45 million DKK. The operational cash flow generation was offset by one-off costs in connection with the hearing transaction as well as timing effects from working capital built ahead of the fourth quarter. Net interest-bearing debt ended at 9.6 billion Danish kroner. On a performance basis, including the cash proceeds from the hearing divestment, GN would have a net cash position. Let me now explain the main drivers behind the margin development during the year and why we are confident in the margin outlook. Year to date, the adjusted EBITDA margin reached 8.1%, supported by a clear sequential improvement quarter by quarter during the year. Revenue momentum improved in the third quarter as recent launches across enterprise and gaming gained traction. In the fourth quarter, we expect further support from these launches as well as the traditional seasonality of the business driving higher absolute revenue. We are currently assuming that Evolve 3 portfolio will continue to support our core enterprise business with a positive growth in fourth quarter, while we are seeing some timing risk in relation to Falcom in Q4, currently in Q4 leading to a full year Falcom previous 200 million assumed. In addition to the third quarter included 153 million Danish kroner on tariff refunds. We do believe that we are able to maintain our mid-50s gross margins in enterprise and 35-40% gross margins in gaming over the coming periods, even in a period with elevated input costs. On operating expenses, we continue to make targeted child investments behind the launchers. This was partly offset by reduced general spending during the cardboard process. In addition, we have during the quarter obtained more clarity around the allocation of costs between the continuing and discontinuing business. As such, we saw a significant sequential decline in GNA in the quarter, which reflects a catch-up on a too high cost allocation from previous quarters into the continuing operations. The average GNA level for the first three quarters is therefore more a realistic run rate level for GN at this point in time. The combination of improving revenue, healthy underlying growth margins and operating leverage has resulted in significant sequential improvement in profitability over the year. These developments support our full year guidance which we are confirming today. As mentioned, we confirm our 2026 financial guidance for continuing operations. We are encouraged by the improvements across growth and margins we have seen during the third quarter. For the year, we continue to expect organic revenue growth in the range between 0 and 3% and an adjusted EBITDA margin in the range between 9 and 10%, excluding one-off costs related to the hearing transition. And with that, let me turn to the next page to give you an update on the divestment of our hearing business to Amplifor. First of all, the hearing business continues to perform well, and we are pleased with the 5% growth delivered in the quarter on top of a demanding comparison base driven by a strong initial reception of ReSound Sensia. The carve-out process is well underway and we continue to make good progress as we are now in the final stages of completing the separation. Closing remains subject to customer regulatory approvals and completion of the separation process. We remain confident that we will be able to close the transaction by the end of the year. On November 1st, we have concluded the internal demerger, which essentially means that we have carved out enterprise and gaming items into separate legal entities, which is one of the prerequisites of now also updated the expected tax payments seen during the year, including the share price asset value across our businesses. We now estimate a tax payment of around 300 to 500 million Danish kroner. And with that, let me turn to our plans for the returning capital to shareholders following completion of the hearing transaction. Following the closing, we intend to distribute at least 4 billion Danish kroner to shareholders by the end of 2027, supported by a leveraged target of 1 to 1.5 times EBITDA. As a first step, we expect to launch a new safe-harvest share buyback program of up to 1 billion Danish kroner immediately after the closing. The program will be based on our current authorization and is expected to run until no later than the next Annual General Meeting on March 10th of 27, subject to the current limit on GN's holding of treasury shares. We then intend to cancel treasury shares and reduce the share capital. At the 2027 Annual General Meeting, we will seek a renewed authorization allowing us to continue repurchase of owned shares. This would mechanically require a somewhat higher holding limit compared to the standard 10%. Following that authorization, we intend to further distribute at least 3 billion DKK by the end of 2027. We are also reinstating our dividend policy of distributing between 20-14% of annual net profit. Any dividend proposal will of course be subject to AGM approvals. In addition, further proceeds from the sales of Amplifon shares is intended to be returned to the shareholders as well. Taken together, this provides a clear capital allocation framework, invest appropriately in the business, maintain leverage within our targeted range, and return excess capital to our shareholders. Now, 2026 has been a very special year for GN with a lot of fundamental changes, and we are convinced that these changes will be positive to GN. While we have executed the preparation for the divestment, we have also launched a large number of products across enterprise and gaming, which has helped us to turn our business into growth while demonstrating solid margins. We are now soon ready to turn the page for the next chapter of GN. And for the Capital Markets Day, we will lay out our strategy priorities of how successfully build GN into the future with the benefit of our customers, partners, shareholders and employees. So therefore, please save the 24th of February 2027 for a GN Capital Markets Day. With that, I'll hand you back to Rune for the Q&A session.
Rune Sandager
Head of Investor Relations
Thank you, Peter and Søren. That concludes our prepared remarks and the presentation for today. I will now hand over to the operator for the Q&A session. Please limit your questions to two at a time, please.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Your first question comes from Veronica at Dubai Over with Citi. Please go ahead.
Veronika Dubajova
Analyst, Citi
Good morning, guys, and thank you for taking my questions. I have two, please. One is just your view on the durability of the enterprise momentum from here. Obviously, really great to see you return to the number that starts with a plus, not a minus. I'm just curious, Peter, if you can talk about the sort of visibility that you feel you have in 64, and then more importantly, kind of any preliminary thoughts you have there on 2027, just given the many moving parts in terms of, you know, Sentiment Investment Priorities from your customers. Just curious how you're thinking about that. I know I'm asking you to speculate a little bit beyond, but that's the first one. And then the second one is for Soren, an exclusive discussion about electronic components or materials for aid. That means for 2027 as well. I know you said you see that. Presumably, there are some headwinds we should be contemplating as we move into 2027, so if you can give us some help quantifying those, that'd be great. Thank you.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Thanks Veronica, so let me start. We are of course very pleased with what we see here in Q3 on the enterprise growth and it's really driven by the great receiving of Thank you very much. If we look into Q4, if we think about the core enterprise without Falcom, we do expect to see a similar kind of momentum as we saw in Q3. This is really an ongoing kind of support for our product and growth. and then early next year we will actually launch even more products into the wireless category. So I expect us to have a good start also on the year in 27. So while you cannot plan the future exactly, we have a great level of confidence that this is not a temporary growth. This is something we've built up and now we'll take care of in the quarters to come.
Søren Jelert
CFO
Yeah, and then Veronica, as you for sure know, and I think we've also seen in our business, that we have really been good at putting our operations together and taking advantage of delivering through one set of components, suppliers, and that has led to the underlying good improvements we've seen throughout the year, both in actually gaming, but actually also holding up an enterprise. However, I also think you're right that we are seeing a pressure on component pricing and that is of course also what we need to factor into next year as a somewhat smaller headwind. I think our teams are doing of course what they can to leverage the scale we do have but I think you're right that there is a positive or in this case a negative impact on the component pricing.
Veronika Dubajova
Analyst, Citi
Are you willing to specify your kind of early thoughts on what that headwind could look like or not yet?
Søren Jelert
CFO
I think it's a little early to sort of specifically speak to that. Also bear in mind that throughout the year we also need to assess we have launches coming up and how exactly they will also pan off and see how the mix will pan off in the business. So we would like to come back to you of course in connection with the annual report but just Again, you are right on the component pricing. I think we have a very skilled operations team looking in and taking advantage of, of course, the scale we do have. But we would like to sort of further give you clarity on that once we come into February. I think we have a good path, but it is something that, of course, we need to be mindful of.
Veronika Dubajova
Analyst, Citi
Got it. Thank you, guys. I'll jump back into the queue.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Angela Posinovich with BNPP. Please go ahead.
Angela Posinovich
Analyst, BNP Paribas
Hi, good to have you both on Enterprise. So the first one is just level of stocking that you have seen for the products, and do you expect this to have an impact on them before? And the second one, also on Enterprise, but more mid to long term. So you've returned to growth after four years of decline, but do you think that this growth could fade away as we annualize these products? I'm thinking not only about H1 next year, but more like H2 next year and later. Especially because in the other channels or the other segments of enterprise that you want to introduce new products, I feel like you're facing more competition, especially from the Chinese players. So I'm just curious to your thoughts on the main drivers of the enterprise market besides the product launches and which of these drivers you are seeing now versus which ones need to improve to see better growth. Thank you so much.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Thank you so much. If we start with the stocking, I mean, for the new products, there is of course a natural tendency that there will be increased stocking around the new products, which is a natural part of launching. You need to make sure the distribution can carry your right level of inventories for new products. and that happened for the premium products earlier in the year when we launched those in Q1 and now happened to essentially the mid-tier products here in Q3 but I think that the more helpful way to think about it I think is to look on the aggregated sell-in versus sell-out and this was now in stability in this quarter so we essentially sold in as much as we sold out and over time I guess it's all about how well the new portfolio is selling out and here we are very encouraged by the premium products to see the continued very healthy sell out of those and the initial receptions of the mid-tier products we launched now are also very positive. So I think this is also broadly what lending confidence to your second question about the kind of success over time. The portfolio will be in the market a long time and I think it's all about getting that continued good sell-out performance across the products. And then in terms of the drivers, I believe that the market overall aggregated really stabilized. We still see a bit the same tendency, North American APAC a bit stronger, but EMEA, we also saw some good improvements. It's not fully back into the same strength as other regions, but did improve in the quarter. If we look over time, the market is, of course, broad with different kinds of pockets. You mentioned Chinese players and you mentioned us. We're very focused on being an innovator in the market, creating premium products and experiences. and we feel very confident about the Wall 3 to be able to position us as such. So we don't think this is kind of a notice of the launch. We do expect this much more on how we see growth in enterprise when we lay out our game at the Capital Markets Day. But we have a good level of confidence that we should be able to continue to drive from now on some level of growth into enterprise in the quarters to come.
Angela Posinovich
Analyst, BNP Paribas
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Martin Parkway with SEB. Please go ahead.
Martin Parkkinen
Analyst, SEB
Great. Thank you very much. A couple of questions also on enterprise and then on the margins. Back to Peter, your comment that this will not just be a Q3, 4, 1, 2 thing, but something longer also. Can you talk a little bit about your discussions with big corporates which not necessarily run out and refreshes portfolio from day one? Do you see any anecdotal evidence for Jabra Wall 3 is actually... Thank you very much. Besides the headsets, anything we should be aware of with the Falcom Video or Blue Parrot that can change the overall growth rate for enterprise in the fourth quarter. And then, as I promised, on the margin side, with a pretty good Q3, even adjusting for tariffs. Would it be fair to assume that we should more look towards the high end of the EBITDA margin guidance of 9% to 10%? And what kind of absolute OPEX level should we assume for the fourth quarter? I think that you said at Q2 that Q3 should be similar to Q1 and Q2. It was, of course, much lower due to the administration cost, but what should we assume for Q4? That was approximately two questions.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Two fairly rich questions, but a very good one. So let me start here. The way this works is that to transition from one portfolio to the other will take some time. For many companies, this is a process about trying the new products and then shifting over to the new products. I think that process is ongoing with many customers around the world. So that's also why it's important to think about this effect. This transition will take place over several quarters. I do think that absolutely the innovation is giving corporates a reason to essentially upgrade and change to new type of products. The feedback we're getting from both the very largest customers we have but also more mid-tier is that they really like the portfolio and many seem to be interested in doing the transitions. So we are encouraged by the initial reception and that is part of lending confidence to us believing in the right trajectory here to drive growth over time. Then to the specific questions on Q4. I mean, if we start with the core enterprise, excluding Falcom, excluding Blue Parrot, we do believe you should see something similar to what you have seen in Q3. I don't want to pinpoint an exact number, but we grew in 1% in Q3, so expect something similar in Q4. I think that would be, I think, a good base assumption. And then Soren read it up in the initial remarks. The situation with Falcom is that we now believe we will end the year on a total Falcom sales of around 150 million. That is a bit less than what we expected initially, around 200 million due to a couple of larger projects moving into next year. That is creating a Q4 headwind of 2-3% compared to what Falcom did last year. So that is, of course, then creating a bit of a counterweight to the reported enterprise numbers. So the core, which I think is, of course, a majority, very stable and going in the right direction, you will have a temporary effect of the Falcom comparison in the Q4.
Søren Jelert
CFO
Yes, Martin, and then on the margins, I think, of course, it's really good that what we've seen here in the third quarter undoubtedly de-risked the full year, as you correctly say, and then you're, of course, trying to do the math of where we'll land within the 9 to 10%. I think what you should expect to see and your question on OPEX is essentially that the overall OPEX is normally a little higher when it comes to sales and marketing in the fourth quarter. I think when it comes to the R&D side and the DNA, then that is more a normalized version. We're seeing, again, bear in mind, we had this special DNA effect in third quarter. So there is probably more take the first three quarters and then see what's the average of that. I think then you come at least quite close to an OPEX expectations that will be marginally up but mainly due to the sales and marketing for us to support the loans and the higher top line.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Carsten Lundborg Madsen with Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Carsten Lundberg Madsen
Analyst, Danske Bank
Thank you very much. So then I'll try to do exactly two questions, but you never know where I'll end, right? So let's start with a question on gaming. Based on this rather high setup in growth for Q4, which sounds reasonable, but still, I'd like to hear whether you have Any type of visibility into some sort of order book, retailer inventory, sell-through, campaign startings, etc., because you are supposed to deliver a massive step up in organic goods for gaming in Q4. And then to CERN, I think the missing piece of the puzzle on the market could maybe be sort of, what are you assuming for... General and administration costs going forward now that you had this reversal for the prior two quarters impacting this quarter. Are we now just seeing at a level of 210 to 20 million from here? Is there a reasonable level also into next year?
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Thanks Carsten. I mean on gaming overall we have a good kind of trajectory of the gaming business and the products we have launched perform very well. And then I think we have a bit belief like many in the industry that Q4 will be a constructive quarter in terms of market performance around the GTA launch but also in general. So we think there is good support to drive the revenue we're aspiring for here. When you look at the growth rates, it of course looks a bit daunting to step up, but I think it's important also to remember that last year, both market-wise and for our business, was actually a very weak quarter. We declined 12% year over year in Q4 last year. So the comparison base is actually not that demanding. So I think that of course also helped the year over year growth when we're now moving into next quarter. But overall we feel very good about where we're going with the gaming business.
Søren Jelert
CFO
And then when it comes to the further insights into the G&A, I think it is a fair assumption, as I also tried to say before, that on average the Q1 to Q3 this year marks sort of what we expect to be a good run rate coming into quarter four. I would, however, also say that, remind you that the G&A is a combination of administration and IT costs. And, of course, where we spend our time right now, as many, and that's where we're spending all our effort, time to complete, I would say, activity level, whether it's IT. and that's why I would say that it's still we expect to be at the level you are expecting for 2027 but maybe we also at a relatively low level coming out of quarter three and quarter four. So you should probably hear me say that I'm not saying it's precisely going to go flat. I think we will have initiatives also next year that will support our business and I think that's important to understand. Okay, thank you.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star then 1. Our next question comes from Niels Granenblatt with B&B Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Niels Graneblad
Analyst, Carnegie
Thank you. So, my first question would be on your net interest bearing debt towards the end of the year, provided that you complete the sale of OT and hearing. Could you give us some kind of broad range round where would you expect your net interest bearing cash position to stand by the end of the year? Secondly, when we look towards Thank you very much. Your investment needs for the next few years. Thank you
Søren Jelert
CFO
I think, Nils, on the net debt, as you surely have read, we're coming out of 9.6, so equivalent to what we came out of in quarter two. And we are still of the expectations that we will generate a positive cash flow for the fourth quarter. And as such, we still expect around 9 billion for the full year. And then you, of course, will have to top that up with potential
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
And let me continue with the investments level.
Søren Jelert
CFO
Just to take, actually, we, yes, exclude the tax payments, which we are expected to have in 2027, actually.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
And then in terms of investments, to not run ahead of the capital market, we look forward to go through this in detail. But what we will do at the capital market overall is, of course, explain the opportunities we see, the choices we are making. You will have a chance to also see the team and we will lay out, of course, the more longer term financials for us. But when it comes to investment areas, I think that there are a few kind of buckets that we pay a lot of attention to. One is of course how we develop growth opportunities in a healthy way, existing or possibly new. And I think that this can be either through organic investment or smaller M&A. So we will try to be clear on where we see the opportunity areas and how we think about approaching them. In terms of R&D, it's important for us to think about R&D over sales as something we are keeping, what should we say, a good control on. We don't want that to run away. So don't expect us to come and say that we will have a very elevated R&D into the future or anything like that. The R&D organization on the investment and then maybe complemented with some small Then I think another area where we already have taken quite some investments but we do like to continue on that trajectory because it's so important is to make sure we have a world-class supply chain and this is important to both navigate around in a changing environment but also to make sure we can really deliver both with quality at time but also at the right cost level and this is very important and this is something you should also expect. But net-net, I don't think you should be afraid that we will come to capital market day and say we have a huge level of investments we need to do and you should expect several years before you're starting to get return. That would be the wrong approach. But it's all about how we balance this over time so we can have a steady growth and margin expansion over time. And that's what we like to lay out.
Niels Graneblad
Analyst, Carnegie
So when you mentioned smaller M&A, is that because you want to infer new capabilities?
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
It can be or accelerate the progress in existing categories, and I think it's one of the two, and invest organically and do it ourselves, or if we think and accelerate our progress, that can then be there.
Niels Graneblad
Analyst, Carnegie
Thank you.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Carsten Mondorg-Madsen with Danske Bank. Please go ahead. and Nick Austin. You may be on mute.
Carsten Lundberg Madsen
Analyst, Danske Bank
Just a follow-up question here in terms of your marketing uplift that we have previously discussed into 2027. Could you share some of your current thoughts on which items in the P&L that should support this lift in 2027? Where should we see lower ratios versus sales in 2027 versus where we are today in 2026?
Søren Jelert
CFO
Hi Carsten, I think also in line with what we actually have said before that we do expect that the benefits of the actions we have taken in terms of the structural costs we've taken out will actually be impacting multiple lines during 2027. So it's not one specific line that will as such It's only to understand, for example, if you end up in that very high end of your guidance range now, I've been still seeing two percentage points from 10% adjusted EBITDA margin into 27%. I think here that, of course, what we could see is a positive outcome. That's why we have the high end of the guidance, of course. That is a combination of various factors that could impact us. It could be a lower spend due to what we have ongoing. But it could also be the fundamental sort of lower spend patterns as I spoke to before that we will need to assess once we are out and on the other side of the transaction. I think it can go both ways. Some of the improvements that we actually stated originally, some of those can actually be the reason why we're also seeing a lower cost pattern here towards the end of the year. But again, back then we said if it was 1 to 1, we would see a positive 2% uplift if the cost pattern for 2026 would be more or less unchanged. But if we are seeing a little bit of that in the fourth quarter, of course, you can say that the higher end of the 8 to 9, part of that is then already embedded in 2026. But fundamentally, we still believe that these 2% of the actions we took was the right action to take at that point in time. And we can also see that it's filtering through our planning for next year.
Peter Karlstromer
CEO
Let me just add one thing here also to the question. To clarify, I think you all remember, but this year, of course, we are getting the tariff repayments that are equivalent to around 1%. So I think it's important, of course, that we have those in there, and it can even be slightly more than that, so 1% to 1.5% or around that. So, of course, that's important. So when we say landing here between 9 and 10, that includes that. Then you need to deduct that, and then we have the underlying improvement, which we talked about, that, of course, will support into next year. So I think we are on a very healthy trajectory on expanding margins, and you will see some of that into next year already, of course.
Carsten Lundberg Madsen
Analyst, Danske Bank
Yes, thank you.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Martin Parkway with SEB. Please go ahead.
Martin Parkkinen
Analyst, SEB
Yes, thank you, Martin. Martin with SEB again. A few technical questions, because I've been pretty obsessed the last couple of months on taxes, and now you reduce them significantly, but then I need to ask about some other tax aspects. Firstly, on the nation benefits, 19% ownership, I don't know where in the European transaction that actually will land, but can you confirm that if at some point in time you will be able to monetize the nation benefits, then you will not be paying tax after that? and then secondly how will you be taxed on potential movements in the Amplifon shares after you actually get them in connection with the transaction and then also a little bit technical questions on the net financials because obviously you will enter Thank you very much.
Søren Jelert
CFO
Hi, Martin. Great questions, all of them, essentially. And when it comes to nations, it is our expectations that that would be a tax-free transaction when that happens, essentially. When it comes to the Amplifon share, once we sell them down from, let's assume that we have a 17, 16, 17 percent share or capital share there, Thank you for watching. but then we are probably further out in the future to be honest but that's how you should that's at least our current assumption of how it should be read and then finally on the net interest it is of course right that we at a point in time depending on when we do the the share buybacks right that we will be cast positive small positive interest of a 2027 but I think it's it's a little Thank you. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time.
Operator
Conference Call Operator
I'll now turn the call back to management for closing remarks.
Rune Sandager
Head of Investor Relations
Thank you very much, operator, and thank you everybody on the call for your time and interest in GM. As always, if you have follow-up, please reach out to the investigations team. Have a fantastic day.