스테리스(STE) 2027 회계연도 2분기 실적 발표 콘퍼런스콜: EPS 가이던스 상향

스테리스(STERIS Plc, NYSE: STE)가 헬스케어 부문의 소모품 및 서비스, 라이프사이언스 부문의 견조한 자본재 장비 출하량, 관세 환급에 힘입어 2027 회계연도 2분기에 전반적인 성장을 기록했다고 발표했다. 경영진은 전사 매출 전망치는 유지하면서 연간 조정 주당순이익(EPS) 가이던스를 상향 조정했다.

핵심 요약

• 보고 기준 매출은 전년 동기 대비 9% 증가한 16억 달러를 기록했다. 가격 인상 기여도 230bp를 포함한 고정환율 기준 유기적 매출은 8% 증가했다.
• 조정 희석 EPS는 19% 증가한 2.94달러를 기록했다. 관세 환급을 제외한 조정 EPS는 13% 증가했다.
• 조정 EBIT 마진율은 150bp 확대된 24.6%를 기록했다. 증가분 중 약 130bp는 관세 환급에 기인했다.
• 라이프사이언스 부문의 유기적 매출은 자본재 장비의 53% 성장에 힘입어 18% 증가했다. 경영진은 해당 부문의 2027 회계연도 유기적 성장률 전망치를 기존 6%~7%에서 9%~10%로 상향 조정했다.
• 경영진은 보고 기준 매출 성장률 가이던스 7%~8%는 유지하면서, 2027 회계연도 조정 희석 EPS 가이던스를 기존 11.10~11.30달러에서 11.35~11.55달러로 상향 조정했다.
• 스테리스는 AST 유기적 성장률 전망치를 기존 7%~8%에서 6%~7%로 하향 조정했다. 경영진은 고객사의 재고 조정이 끝났으며 9월과 10월에 성장세가 개선됐다고 밝혔다.

핵심 재무 데이터

스테리스는 해당 분기 동안 약 2,000만 달러의 관세 환급금을 수령했다. 이 환급금은 전년 동기 대비 매출총이익률과 EBIT 마진율 비교에서 각각 130bp의 상승 효과를 더했다. 경영진은 2027 회계연도 잔여 기간 동안 중대한 추가 관세 환급은 없을 것으로 예상하고 있다.

유리한 가격 책정 효과보다 인플레이션 영향이 더 크게 작용하면서 실질 매출총이익률은 소폭 하락했다. 영업활동현금흐름은 순이익 증가로 일부 상쇄됐으나, 하반기 출하를 뒷받침하기 위한 재고 확충으로 인해 주로 감소했다.

회사는 해당 분기 동안 1억 달러, 상반기 동안 2억 달러 규모의 자사주를 매입했다. 현재 승인 한도 내 잔여 자사주 매입 여력은 8억 달러다.

사업 및 영업 실적

헬스케어

헬스케어 부문의 고정환율 기준 유기적 매출은 7% 증가했다. 서비스 매출은 10% 증가했으며, 소모품 매출은 고객 소비 증가, 시장 점유율 확대, 내시경 시술 증가 및 최근 위장관(GI) 제품 인수 효과로 10% 증가했다.

자본재 장비 매출은 최근 인수 효과를 포함해 4% 증가했다. 신규 주문은 1% 증가했고 기말 수주잔고는 4억 5,600만 달러를 기록했다. 헬스케어 EBIT 마진율은 인플레이션, 생산성 둔화 및 가속화된 장기 투자가 판매량과 가격 인상 효과를 상쇄하면서 110bp 하락한 24%를 기록했다.

경영진은 헬스케어 소모품 부문이 전용 화학 장비 및 자동 내시경 세척 소독기의 기존 설치 효과를 누렸다고 밝혔다. 회사에 따르면 내시경 시술 성장률은 한 자릿수 중후반대를 유지했다.

응용 멸균 기술(AST)

AST 부문의 고정환율 기준 유기적 매출은 5% 증가했다. 서비스 매출은 보고 기준 5%, 고정환율 기준 6% 증가했다. EBIT 마진율은 가격 인상 효과로 일부 상쇄됐으나 감가상각비 증가와 인플레이션의 영향으로 약 60bp 하락한 44.7%를 기록했다.

경영진은 네트워크 가동률이 여전히 높은 수준을 유지하고 있으나 추가 수요를 감당할 수 있는 생산능력이 확보돼 있다고 밝혔다. 가동을 본격화하는 단계에 있는 시설들이 마진 희석 효과를 내고 있기는 하지만, 물량이 회복되면 기존 고정 인프라가 마진 레버리지를 제공할 수 있다고 설명했다.

라이프사이언스

라이프사이언스 부문의 고정환율 기준 유기적 매출은 18% 증가했다. 자본재 장비 매출은 53%, 소모품은 9%, 서비스 매출은 5% 각각 증가했다. 분기 말 수주잔고는 9,300만 달러로 전년 동기 대비 소폭 밑돌았다.

부문 EBIT 마진율은 판매량, 가격, 생산성 및 우호적인 제품 믹스에 힘입어 약 310bp 상승하며 사상 최고치인 44.4%를 기록했다. 경영진은 제조업 리쇼어링 및 현지화, 제약 부문의 이연 수요, 그리고 단일 고객사로부터의 1,000만 달러를 초과하는 자본재 장비 주문을 주요 요인으로 언급했다. 다만 회사 측은 이러한 규모의 주문이 매 분기 반복되지는 않을 것이라고 주의를 당부했다.

조더스 메디컬(Xodus Medical) 인수

스테리스는 조더스 메디컬(Xodus Medical) 인수를 통해 수술실 내 임상 영업 역량을 확보하고 일회용 소모품 포트폴리오를 확장할 수 있을 것이라고 밝혔다. 조더스의 제품군에는 핑크패드(Pink Pad)를 비롯해 환자 체위 고정, 취급, 이송, 체온 유지 및 기타 수술실용 제품이 포함된다.

경영진의 향후 사업 모델은 10%대 중반의 매출 성장률과 50%대 초중반의 EBIT 마진율을 가정하고 있다. 회사는 이번 인수가 매출, 마진 및 EPS를 개선할 것(accretive)으로 기대하고 있으나, 가이던스는 거래가 완료된 이후에 수정할 계획이다. 스테리스는 차입을 통해 인수 자금을 조달할 예정이며, 경영진은 약 6%의 이자율 가정이 합리적이라고 밝혔다.

경영진 가이던스

EPS 전망치에는 해당 회계연도 누적 관세 환급으로 인한 주당 약 0.18달러의 수혜가 포함되어 있다. 경영진은 추가적인 가이던스 상향 요인으로 2분기 실적 호조와 이자 비용 감소를 꼽았다.

이번 전망치에는 조더스 메디컬(Xodus Medical) 인수가 제외되어 있다. 경영진은 인수가 완료된 후 전망치를 수정할 계획이다.

리스크 및 주시 사항

• 관세 환급이 2분기 마진 확대를 실질적으로 뒷받침했으나, 경영진은 2027 회계연도에 유의미한 추가 환급은 없을 것으로 예상하고 있다.
• 실질 매출총이익률 기준에서 인플레이션이 가격 인상 효과를 웃돌며 헬스케어 및 AST 부문의 수익성에 부담으로 작용했다.
• 상반기 실적 부진 이후 AST의 연간 성장률 전망치가 하향 조정되었으나, 경영진은 재고 조정이 끝났으며 최근 성장이 정상화되었다고 밝혔다.
• 경영진은 북미 시술 건수 증가율이 통상적인 범위인 2.5%~5%의 하단인 약 3% 수준이라고 밝혔으나, 전반적인 시술 수요는 여전히 긍정적이라고 강조했다.
• 라이프사이언스 부문의 성장에는 1,000만 달러를 초과하는 고객사 주문이 포함되었으며, 경영진은 이러한 주문이 매 분기 반복되지는 않을 것으로 예상하고 있다.
• 스테리스가 하반기 예상 출하를 지원하기 위해 재고를 늘리면서 상반기 잉여현금흐름은 감소했다.

애널리스트 질의응답(Q&A) 하이라이트

• AST 수요: 경영진은 이번 분기 유럽 지역의 성장세가 북미 지역과 대등하거나 더 양호했다고 밝혔다. 기저 효과와 고객사 재고 조정의 종료가 하반기 실적 개선에 대한 기대를 뒷받침하고 있다.
• 헬스케어 자본 지출: 스테리스는 자본재 수요의 둔화가 없었다고 보고했다. 공급망 차질 시기를 제외하면 헬스케어 부문의 수주잔고는 사상 최고치에 근접한 수준이었다.
• 시술 건수: 경영진은 시술 건수 둔화에 대한 우려가 과장되었다고 평가했다. 멸균 처리 부서의 데이터에 따르면 의료기관 고객들의 재정적 압박에도 불구하고 트레이 처리량과 소비량은 오히려 증가한 것으로 나타났다.
• 라이프사이언스 수요: 최근의 호조세는 제약 고객사들의 수년간에 걸친 투자 부족 이후 나타난 리쇼어링, 현지화 및 사후 보충 지출을 반영한 것이다. 자동화 추세는 장기적인 기회로 간주되지만 아직 수주잔고에는 가시화되지 않았다.
• 구조조정: 새로 승인된 계획에 따라 현금 비용 1,000만 달러와 비현금성 비용 3,500만 달러를 포함해 총 4,500만 달러의 예상 비용이 반영될 예정이다. 이를 통해 연간 약 900만 달러의 비용 절감 효과가 창출될 것으로 예상되며, 2028 회계연도에 일부 효과가 나타나고 그 이후 전액 반영될 전망이다.
• 포트폴리오 조정: 이번 구조조정에는 포트폴리오에서 일회용 비뇨기과 내시경 제품을 제외하고 관련 공급 계약을 해지하며 일부 제조 시설을 통폐합하는 조치가 포함된다.

실적 발표 콘퍼런스콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the STERIS Plc Second Quarter 2027 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Julie Winter, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Julie Winter

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. Speaking on today's call will be Karen Burton, our Senior Vice President and CFO; and Dan Carestio, our President and CEO.

I do have a few words of caution before we open for comments from management. This webcast contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call without the express written consent of STERIS is strictly prohibited. Some of the statements made during this review are or may be considered forward-looking statements. Many important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those risk factors described in STERIS' securities filings. The company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments. STERIS' SEC filings are available through the company and on our website.

In addition, on today's call, non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings per diluted share, adjusted operating income, constant currency organic revenue growth and free cash flow will be used. Additional information regarding these measures, including definitions, is available in our release as well as reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures are presented during this call with the intent of providing greater transparency to supplemental financial information used by management and the Board of Directors in their financial analysis and operational decision-making.

With those cautions, I will hand the call over to Karen.

Karen Burton

Thank you, Julie, and good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to be with you this morning to review the highlights of our second quarter performance. For the second quarter, total as reported revenue grew 9% to $1.6 billion. Constant currency organic revenue grew 8% in the quarter, driven by volume as well as 230 basis points of price. Adjusted gross margin for the quarter was 45.3%, and up 100 basis points versus the prior year. Margin expansion was driven primarily by tariff refunds of approximately $20 million during the quarter, which added 130 basis points year-over-year. Underlying margins were down slightly as favorable price was more than offset by inflation. Gross tariff costs were approximately $15 million in the second quarter, flat with the prior year.

For clarity, tariff refunds are not being allocated to our business segments, but instead are book to corporate to enable business segment analysis. Adjusted EBIT margin was 24.6% for the quarter, up 150 basis points from the second quarter last year. Tariff refunds contributed 130 basis points to the increase. Underlying margin improvement benefited from favorable price and volume, partially offset by inflation and investments in the business, including the acceleration of R&D spending. We do not expect any material additional tariff refunds during the remainder of fiscal 2027.

The adjusted effective tax rate in the quarter was 25.3%, and an increase from 24.5% in the second quarter of last year. The increase was primarily driven by unfavorable discrete items. Adjusted net income in the quarter was $286.8 million compared with $244.5 million in the prior year. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.94 and a 19% increase over $2.47 in the second quarter of last year. Excluding tariff refunds, adjusted earnings per diluted share grew 13%. Capital expenditures for the second quarter were $76.1 million, and depreciation and amortization totaled $125.6 million.

We ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet, reflecting $1.9 billion in total debt, gross debt to EBITDA at quarter end was approximately 1.1x. Free cash flow for the first 6 months was $492.5 million compared with $527.7 million in the prior year period. Cash flow from operations was $656.1 million compared with $707.8 million last year. The decline in cash flow was driven primarily by significantly lower contribution from working capital as we utilized cash to build inventory in support of second half shipments partially offset by higher net income. Share buybacks in the second quarter totaled $100 million or $200 million for the year-to-date. We have $800 million remaining under our current authorization.

During the quarter, we approved an additional restructuring plan covering targeted facilities realignment and product rationalization and select organizational realignment. We anticipate total charges of $45 million, including $10 million in cash expenditures and $35 million in noncash charges. Approximately $25 million was recorded in the second quarter. The plan is expected to generate annualized savings of approximately $9 million, with a portion realized in fiscal 2028 and and the full benefit in subsequent fiscal years.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Dan for his remarks.

Daniel Carestio

Thanks, Karen, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to hear more about our second quarter 2027 performance and our outlook for the remainder of the year. Karen covered the quarter at a high level, so I will add some commentary on our segments.

Starting with Healthcare. Constant currency organic revenue grew 7% in the quarter. Our performance reflected solid underlying demand with continued strength in our GI business. The strength of our portfolio in commercial teams enables us to help our customers navigate a complex operating environment. Service continued its streak of outperformance, growing 10% in the second quarter. Consumables grew 10%, benefiting from increased customer consumption and driven by share gains, procedural growth in endoscopy and to a lesser extent, a recent acquisition of GI products.

Healthcare capital equipment revenue increased 4% in the quarter, also benefiting from a recent acquisition. Orders remained stable with 1% growth in the second quarter, and our ending backlog increased to $456 million. EBIT margins for health care in the quarter decreased 110 basis points to 24% and Improvements in volume and price were more than offset by inflation, lower productivity and longer-term investments we have accelerated on the back of tariff refunds.

Turning to AST constant currency organic revenue grew 5% for the quarter with 5% growth in services as reported or 6% constant currency. We ended the quarter on solid ground and early indications suggest that October is holding those games. EBIT margins for AST were 44.7%, a decrease of approximately 60 basis points from the second quarter of last year. The decline reflected increased depreciation and inflation, somewhat offset by improved pricing. Constant currency organic revenue increased 18% for Life Sciences for the quarter. Supporting that growth, capital equipment grew 53% and consumables increased 9%. Service revenue grew 5%, reflecting strong shipments backlog was $93 million at quarter end down a bit from prior year. Margins were a record 44.4%, an increase of approximately 310 basis points, reflecting improvement in volume, price, productivity and favorable mix. Reshoring and localization of manufacturing are benefiting our Life Sciences segment.

Turning -- before we turn to the outlook, I do want to discuss our recently announced agreement to acquire Xodus Medical. A surgical specialties products business focused on patient and OR staff safety. Xodus Medical is a natural complement to our health care portfolio, expanding our consumables offering and the way we support customers in the operating room. The business is well known for its flagship Pink Pad, a single-use surgical patient positioning product but this portfolio is much broader. Their products span patient position, patient handling and transfer, patient warming and operating room essentials. This highly clinical, single-use portfolio will strengthen our recurring revenue and expand our direct commercial presence in the OR.

Xodus has consistently demonstrated impressive growth driven by a steady stream of innovation and highly effective commercial model. Our go-forward model reflects maintaining revenue growth in the mid-teens and EBIT margins in the low to mid-50s. The competitive clinical position is well defined and supported by clinical studies, ARN guidelines and a solid innovation pipeline as well as intellectual property protection for core products. We are very excited about the opportunities as our company is aligned to better serve customers.

Shifting gears to outlook. Based on our second quarter results and our expectations for the remainder of the year, we are updating our outlook for fiscal 2027. Our total company revenue growth expectations remain unchanged including as-reported revenue growth of 7% to 8% and constant currency organic growth of 6% to 7%. Our fiscal 2027 earnings per diluted share outlook has been increased to $11.35 to $11.55 compared with our prior range of $11.10 to $11.30. This includes approximately $0.18 per share benefit from tariff refunds year-to-date in fiscal 2027. The additional increase in outlook was driven by second quarter outperformance and lower interest.

From a segment perspective, we continue to expect Healthcare constant currency organic revenue growth of 6% to 7%. We now expect AST growth of 6% to 7% previously compared to the 7% to 8%. This revision reflects us maintaining our exit rate for the second quarter for the balance of the year. Based on the strong first half, we are increasing Life Sciences constant currency organic growth outlook to 9% to 10% and compared with 6 to 7 previously. This reflects a return to more normalized growth in the second half of the year and the outperformance in the first half led by capital equipment. All other elements of our most recently provided outlook remains unchanged, but as a reminder, this outlook does not include Xodus Medical, and we will update our expectations after close. This is a very exciting time at STERIS. The business continues to perform very well, and we are able to prioritize investments in the business that will support our growth for years to come.

I want to thank all of our associates for continuing to do what they do best, focus on our customers and strive to do it a little better each day. That concludes our prepared remarks the call. Nick, would you please give the instructions, and we can begin the Q&A.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question will come from Brett Fishbin with KeyBanc.

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Brett Fishbin

Maybe just starting with the acquisition of Xodus Medical definitely seems like a nice fit for STERIS. And I was just curious if you could discuss a little bit more than what you provided on why this was particularly attractive for the company? And then just more broadly, how you think about this new call point as a longer-term opportunity for the health care business?

Daniel Carestio

Thanks, Brett. Appreciate the question. Yes, we're very excited about the planned acquisition of Xodus. And you mentioned it, but it gives us a new call point and a real clinical sales force in the OR which we really don't have today. I mean, when we sell our surgical infrastructure, our capital products, lights and tables, [indiscernible], that's more on a build type architectural type cell. This really gives us an everyday call point and a reason to be in the operating room which is the beginning of reprocessing or the end of a processing depending on how you look at it in the total perioperative loop.

So they have great products. They're high margin, high growth and consumable and he had a great trajectory of performance for 7, 8 years now, I would say. The product has a lot of customer acceptance and appreciation. It's supported by ARN and we just think it's going to be a great add for STERIS.

Brett Fishbin

All right. Awesome. Awesome. And then maybe just 1 more question on the guidance. I think the AST topic is -- or sorry, the Applied Sterilization Technologies topic has just been a little bit of a conversation. And you had a competitor talking about some incremental headwinds in Europe around just overall activity levels. So I was curious if the change to guidance -- the slight change to guidance is more to do with continued inventory dynamics or if you're also seeing some type of slowdown or weakening in any particular geographies?

Daniel Carestio

Sure thing, Brett. So what I would say is this, -- we had a slow start to the year based on really difficult comps. As we started into Q2, which we just ended, obviously, we saw that improve, especially in September, and those improvements continue through in October. So we feel pretty confident in the back half that we're going to be somewhere in the 6% to 8% growth for that side of the business. And that's supported by the numbers we've seen thus far. I would not say there's a reason at -- we obviously do listen to the other supports, and we actually had better growth or as good or better growth in Europe last quarter than we did in North America. So I think it's just pockets of different customers and things that happened that caused some things.

I wouldn't read too much into that in terms of general volume in the U.S. we said this before, we expect it to be procedural growth at the lower end of the range, which is somewhere around 3% instead of the high end of that range, which can be 5%, which drives consumption of all of our businesses for the most part.

Operator

The next question will come from Patrick Wood with UBS.

Patrick Andrew Wood

Maybe for the first one, just to jump on AST again as volumes start coming back. Where are we at very roughly or qualitatively in terms of utilization. I'm sure is pretty tight, but obviously, things like gamma, the fixed costs of the half-life outside of things, you can get a lot of talk as volumes begin coming back moving through the P&L on margins. So like are we going to see as volumes begin to come back a little bit of leverage coming through on those facilities. I'm not sure where utilization sits today versus history?

Daniel Carestio

Thanks, Pat, this is Dan. Well, total utilization across the network is pretty high. but we have room effectively everywhere because the volumes are slightly less aggressive than what we thought they were going to be at the beginning of the year. So as volumes do come back on the existing infrastructure that we have in place and capacity that we have installed, because we never slowed our isotope loading or anything like that because if you miss it, you missed it forever. So we've kept up with our loadings. We have adequate capacity to take on the increased demand as it flows through.

And yes, you're right. The difference of a couple of percentage points makes an awfully big difference in terms of drop through at the margin line. And some of that's offset that we've got some new facilities that are in ramp-up mode. So those obviously aren't contributing margin at the same level as a very mature facility. So that has somewhat of a dilutive effect, but those are for the most part already in the P&L. And so any improvement in volume should show through.

Patrick Andrew Wood

Super clear. And then just quickly, the -- on the health care business, obviously, all the capital equipment line a chunk of it is essentially not optional, obviously, because it's going to have to be sterilizing -- but you have some that's a little bit more surgically connected on that side. And I guess maybe it's a bit off the beaten path, but the 340B reform rules were kind of finalized and looked like last night. -- we're all debating what effect that could have on the hospitals or those hospitals P&Ls that we're relying on it a little bit. I don't know, have you heard anything from customers in terms of their CapEx outlook, whether that would affect them? Or is it just more of the same?

Daniel Carestio

It's more of the same. In fact, we actually had a really great order quarter on our surgical products this past quarter. So -- and there's a bit of a shift going on in health care today where the plan is, as our population ages here domestically anyways. Hospital is going to have to push healthy basins out to their ASC networks for procedures and they're going to have to take higher acuity patients into the large acute care facilities, which are going to require more capacity in those locations. So we haven't seen any slowdown on the capital whatsoever. Our backlog in health care it's pretty much near record if you exclude the supply chain crisis a few years ago. But -- so we feel pretty good about that.

Operator

The next question will come from Mac Etoch with Stephens.

Steven Etoch

Maybe just starting on the Life Sciences segment. You previously disclosed that onshore could be more of a longer-term benefit. But given some of your prepared remarks, can you just expand on what you're seeing today and how you're thinking around some of these broader macro factors are developing versus maybe at the start of the year?

Daniel Carestio

Yes. I think the difference today is that some of the plans that were previously announced by our customers for expansion in the U.S. and also some of the [indiscernible] position of manufacturing in Europe. We're just that, but now they're starting to materialize, and we're starting to see orders from a capital equipment perspective, but also we're starting to see requests for work on our chemistry side of the business as well. Now having said that, this past quarter was the outperformance there -- we had a great order shipments quarter, but there was 1 particular order that really made a big difference that was in excess of $10 million for a single customer. So that 1 moved the needle, that 1 won't be replaced on a quarterly basis. But nonetheless, we expect great performance by life science throughout the end of the year.

Steven Etoch

Got it. I appreciate that. And then maybe just quickly touching on tariffs as well. I think -- you all cited $24 million as being the total pool of available tariff refunds for the year. Has that shifted at all? Is that available pool widened? I know you're not factoring anything in anything additional in the guide, obviously, but I just want to get a sense there.

Karen Burton

Thanks, Mac. Yes, this is Karen. The tariffs that we have received of $24 million is what we expect to receive the total EPA tariffs paid last year were 27%. So we've got about $3 million where there's just no refund program right now to recoup those. So we are not projecting receipt of those.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question will come from Michael Polark with Wolfe Research.

Michael Polark

Dan, curious if you could bridge health care consumables growth. I know there's a small M&A flowing through, but 7% last year, call it, high single digits solidly year-to-date with ASD volumes being muted. What's the disconnect there? Why is health care consumables growth just wanted to at a high level kind of growing at a much higher rate in ASD volumes still kind of seem tempered.

Daniel Carestio

There's an easy explanation, Mike. So the reality is, over the last few years, we've placed an awful lot of dedicated chemistry equipment out there. And those are things like Pros and our washers and obviously, ARs. And as a result, that share gains that we've been delivering on the capital side is now converting into consumables growth. In addition to that, a lot of our chemistries franchise and consumables and health care is weighted towards endoscopy. It's the chemistry that goes through our automatic endoscope of processors. And we've had a really great year thus far on placements of new machines.

And in addition to that, the general growth rate of endoscopy has remained strong. When I talk about the general growth rate, I mean procedures has remained mid- to high single digits consistently. So there's a bit of a bias in our health care consumables business towards endoscopy.

Michael Polark

I'll follow up on that. That was just 1 of my other topics. So I heard yes, just now and then in your prepared remarks, the GI enthusiasm reaffirmed. There is a competitor that has some challenges in the U.S. So [ Olympus ], I'll say the name, so you don't have to. Obviously, you don't sell scopes, but they solve processors and maybe some accessories. And has that been a benefit we're spiking out in your GI business? Or no, this is not a share gain for execution in market.

Daniel Carestio

Look, it's been a benefit, but it's minor. I mean it's been a quarter or 2 of improved AER sales. But I mean there's an awful lot of those machines out there still. So over time, we'll continue to do well, I'm sure. But like I said, it's been a help, but it's been insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Operator

The next question will come from Mike Matson with Needham & Co.

Michael Matson

So just want to ask another 1 on Xodus Medical. By our rough math, it seems like this could be a fairly accretive acquisition to EPS. I mean we're coming up with kind of 3% to 5% EPS accretion on a manual basis. I mean, this business has extremely high operating margins. I don't know if you're willing to comment on that? Or I assume maybe you'll give us more information when you actually close the deal?

Karen Burton

Yes, Mike, this is Karen. We will give updated guidance once we close the deal. And certainly, we expect it to be accretive top to bottom revenue margins and EPS I would encourage you to make sure you're including all of the interest costs as we are funding this deal with debt.

Michael Matson

Okay. Yes. I mean we were assuming around like a 6% interest rate. Does that sound in the ballpark?

Karen Burton

It certainly does.

Michael Matson

Okay. All right. And then there was some commentary earlier in September at an investor conference about destocking in the AST business by our customers. So I think you've kind of addressed that in a way by saying you saw it get better in October, but just wanted to see if you could elaborate on that commentary a little bit.

Daniel Carestio

Yes, sure, Mike. Thanks. Yes, I think at this point, we're confident to say that destocking has ended. We think it washed itself out in the last quarter that we just completed -- and then we've seen more normalized growth at the back end of that quarter, and then we have pretty good revenue growth in October, which we normally don't hit on, but given it's relevant as to what we've been saying for the last 6 months that first half is going to be tough and then we got easier comps in a second, we're confident in delivering that message.

Operator

The next question will come from Jason Bednar with Piper Sandler.

Jason Bednar

I'm going to try 1 here on AST. That's a little bit of a follow-up to some other questions. But for clarity, do you see a change in growth guidance here, it's a function of some softer procedure volumes, I think. But -- can you put a finer point on what you're expecting in guidance with respect to volume growth across your U.S. and European customers? Are you assuming the better volume growth, better performance in the business. I think you referenced, Dan, in September and October that persists for the rest of your fiscal year? What's the sensitivity on improving or softening from here knowing that the macro still has a layer of uncertainty to it.

Daniel Carestio

Yes. It's -- honestly, Jason, thanks for the question. It's kind of a simple math. And what I mean by that is last year first half of the year that we were comparing to, we grew over 10% right? And then that slowed significantly. If you go back and look at the constant currency organic numbers to mid- to low single digits. So just the comps and growth become a lot easier to get to as we started seeing destocking in the third quarter of last year. So as a result of that and based on what we think is a very stable health care operating environment right now, we're confident that against those easier comps, we should be able to deliver much higher than we did in the first half.

Jason Bednar

All right. Maybe 1 follow-up to that and then I got a separate question. But I think a lot of investors are really trying to understand like a little bit of the sell-in, sellout dynamic on what you're seeing and understanding your layer of move from the sellout, if you will, the actual procedure volumes. I mean, are you seeing anything different that's shifting just because there is a lot of information that's flowing out there suggesting some softer volumes.

So I guess just trying to understand if there's anything there -- and then the separate question here, maybe Karen, this is for you, can you talk about what's stimulating another restructuring program? Just strategically, it seems like these are maybe becoming a little bit more common the last few years? Is something changing with respect to how you're approaching operations in your portfolio?

Daniel Carestio

Jason. I'll start on your question on the volumes. You talked -- you used the word softer volumes. And I think this is way overplayed. I mean the fact of the matter is that there are some highly elective procedures that have been and will get deferred. And some some of our peers in different segments of highly elected products have talked about that. Some have contradicted each other as well. So in terms of what they're seeing. So I think that is what it is right now. there's still great growth going on in health care in terms of general procedures. We -- I've said -- and I've been clear that it's at the low end of the range, meaning if we always sort of assume somewhere between 2.5%, 3% and 5% procedure growth rate, especially in North America, we're probably down towards 3 right now.

But it's still growth rate, right? It's not negative or flat. And we have a mountain of data from all the SPD still processing departments that we run across North America and the U.K. and other places in Europe that says that the number of trades and consumption is up. So based on everything that we're looking at, although there's economic stress clearly for our customers, in particular, in North America, there's still high level demand.

Karen Burton

All right, Jason, I will talk to you a bit about restructuring. So the new plan is targeted in terms of some smaller actions that would include some key components like elimination of a single-use urology scope from our product portfolio -- so the costs include disposal of inventory, termination of supply contracts, impairment of intangible assets. Another key component is some small site consolidation, including transition of production of our sterility assurance products to the new meter manufacturing site that was announced early in fiscal '26.

The plan that was announced in August, in conjunction with the announcement of the formulated chemistry center of excellence was 100% focused on that action and the impact of that center of. So we kept this these other actions separate so that it was clear what we were doing and the timing of those actions. And as you said, this is a little bit unusual for us. We've got 2 announced this year. We had the Bordeaux restructuring a couple of years ago now. And I would say when you link those together, what you're seeing is a focus on really challenging our portfolio and our manufacturing and distribution network, and that's the key driver behind -- all 3 of these plans.

Operator

The next question is a follow-up from Michael Polark of Wolfe Research.

Michael Polark

One more on Life Sciences. Look, I heard the comment, Dan, 1 large order $10 million loud and clear, but there's 18% segment growth, 50% in capital, something was good. You said onshoring localization of supply chains heard. We know that's a megatrend. I would say the feedback from bioprocessing as an example, somewhat mixed and still slow going. So I want to ask if you think there could be something else here and the other topic in tools land is the so-called self-driving labs as Claude starts doing experimentation, and my joke is call will make the beakers [ 32 ] and someone will have to clean them. Do you see evidence that, that kind of theme is an opportunity for life sciences beyond reshoring?

Daniel Carestio

Thanks, Mike. Yes, we do see that as an opportunity clearly. What I would say is it's not something that's registering yet in our order book or anything like that. But as that trend does continue, I think the way we produce aseptic pharmaceuticals will change over time. And I think that STERIS will be in a great position to adapt to that. So I think what we're seeing on the life science order intake and shipments as it relates to capital is just some pent-up demand, too, from a couple of years of underbuying in the pharmaceutical sector, and now there's just a little bit of catch-up. So we're getting to benefit from that.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Julie Winter for any closing remarks.

Julie Winter

Thank you all for taking the time to join us this morning and learn more about the quarter and our outlook for the year. We do have quite a few conferences coming up this fall. I look forward to seeing many of you on the road.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.