Merck KGaA (MKKGY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Merck KGaA ( MKKGY ) Q2 2026 Earnings Call August 6, 2026 8:00 AM EDT Company Participants Florian Schraeder - Head of Investor Relations Kai Beckmann - CEO & Chair of Management Board Helene von Roeder - CFO & Member of Executive Board Danny Bar-Zohar - Member of the Executive Board & CEO of Healthcare Jean Wirth - Member of the Executive Board & CEO Life Science Benjamin Hein - Head of Life Science Conference Call Participants Peter Verdult - BNP Paribas, Research Division Matthew Weston - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division Sachin Jain - BofA Securities, Research Division James Quigley - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division Richard Vosser - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division Charles Pitman - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division Falko Friedrichs - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Rajesh Kumar Simon Baker - Rothschild & Co Redburn, Research Division Peter Spengler - DZ Bank AG, Research Division Oliver Metzger - ODDO BHF Corporate & Markets, Research Division Presentation Operator Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Merck Investor and Analyst Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026. [Operator Instructions] I am now handing over to Florian Schraeder, Head of Investor Relations, who will lead you through this conference. Please go ahead, sir. Florian Schraeder Head of Investor Relations Thank you very much, Heidi. Good afternoon, good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q2 '26 results call. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Florian Schraeder, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations at Merck. In our Q2 call today, Kai Beckmann, Group CEO, will begin with sharing an update on first steps since we announced our new strategic direction in May. Kai will then provide a brief overview of our business performance and key developments in the second quarter as part of his executive summary. Helene von Roeder, Group CFO, will guide you through the detailed financial overview. Before