21.Capital management

The principle objectives of the Company’s capital management strategy are to optimize the weighted average cost of capital and to achieve a balanced mix of total equity and debt. The dialysis industry, in which the Company has a strong market position in global, growing, and largely non-cyclical markets, is characterized by recurring cash flows. Due to the Company’s payors’ mostly high credit quality, it is able to generate high, stable, predictable, and sustainable cash flows. These generated cash flows allow a reasonable proportion of debt. As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, total equity and debt were as follows:

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The Company is not subject to any capital requirements provided for in its Articles of Association.

The Company conducts a share buyback program. These shares will be used predominantly to reduce the registered share capital of the Company by cancellation of the acquired shares and, to a significantly lesser extent, may be used for allocations under incentive-based compensation plans (see note 20).

The Company’s financing strategy aims at ensuring financial flexibility, managing financial risks, and optimizing financing costs. Financial flexibility is ensured through maintaining sufficient liquidity. Refinancing risks are limited due to the Company’s balanced maturity profile, which is characterized by a wide range of maturities of up to 2032. When deciding upon the use of available financing instruments, market capacity, investor diversification, financing conditions, and the existing maturity profile are taken into account (see note 17).

The Company’s financing structure and business model are reflected in its credit ratings. The Company is rated investment grade by S&P Global, Moody’s and Fitch. The Company’s current corporate credit ratings and outlooks from the credit rating agencies are provided in the table below:

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