Good news for shareholders Sonova continues to focus on market share gains after a solid year
Sonova met its own sales and profit targets in the past financial year 2025/26. The shareholders of the Swiss hearing aid group are now to receive a higher dividend.
18.05.2026, 07:37
18.05.2026, 09:04
SDA
As Sonova announced on Monday, sales from continuing operations amounted to 3.61 billion Swiss francs in the financial year ended March. This was a decrease of 0.2 percent. In local currencies, however, Sonova achieved an increase of 5.9 percent. The hearing system company thus met its own target of growth of between 5 and 9 percent in local currencies.
This was driven by strong growth in the combined wholesale and retail business, which includes both hearing aids and the audiological care business, leading to sustained gains in market share. Sonova thus significantly outperformed market growth according to its own figures.
These figures no longer include the consumer hearing business. At the end of March, Sonova announced its intention to divest this business unit as part of a strategic review.
Higher dividend proposed
The company increased its normalized operating profit (EBITA) by 3.7 percent to CHF 811 million. In local currencies, the increase would have been 17.3 percent. The corresponding margin amounted to 22.5 percent, which corresponds to an increase of 2.3 percentage points in local currencies and 0.8 percentage points in Swiss francs.
According to Sonova, the overall normalization in the reporting period reflects one-off legal costs, legacy obligations and strategic measures as well as lower acquisition-related costs.
The bottom line, however, was a lower profit after tax of CHF 546 million (previous year: CHF 565 million).
Sonova largely met the expectations of the analysts surveyed by the news agency AWP. However, the experts were divided on the comparative figures due to the sale of Consumer Hearing.
The Stäfa-based company is offering shareholders the prospect of a higher dividend of CHF 4.70, compared with CHF 4.40 in the previous year. This would be the highest payout in the company's history.
For 2026/27, Sonova is now aiming for consolidated sales growth of 5 to 8 percent at constant exchange rates. In terms of profitability, Sonova is now aligning its own targets with core EBIT. This is expected to increase by 7 to 10 percent in the current year.
