US moving forward on expanded ASTar® panel
Third quarter 2026 (July - September)
• Contracted ASTar instruments 3 (5)
• Net sales MSEK 4.8 (3.5)
• Consumables sales per instrument (R12) TSEK 247 (306)
• Operating result (EBIT) MSEK -30.6 (-40.7)
• Result after tax MSEK -29.3 (-42.2)
• Earnings per share SEK -1.55 (-6.55)
• Earnings per adjusted share SEK -1.55 (-2.23)
• Operating cashflow MSEK -34.3 (-37.0)
• Net cash at period end MSEK 150.7 (42.6)
The period 2026 (January - September)
• Contracted ASTar instruments 8 (13)
• Net sales MSEK 8.5 (8.2)
• Consumables sales per instrument (R12) TSEK 247 (306)
• Operating result (EBIT) MSEK -96.9 (-132.6)
• Result after tax MSEK -92.8 (-135.6)
• Earnings per share SEK -4.9 (-29.03)
• Earnings per adjusted share SEK -4.9 (-7.15)
• Operating cashflow MSEK -94.2 (-122.3)
• Net cash at period end MSEK 150.7 (42.6)
Significant events in the quarter
• An agreement was signed with a major US healthcare
• system for the implementation of ASTar.
• Q-linea was awarded a national framework agreement with the US group purchasing organization Premier, Inc.
• Q-linea launched ASTar RUO Isolate Gram-Negative (G-) kit, expanding the applications uses for the ASTar platform.
• Malin Svensson was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Investor Relations manager.
Significant events after the period
• Q-linea won a tender of two ASTar instruments in Italy.
• An order was signed for one ASTar instrument for a hospital in Austria.
CEO-letter
The U.S. market opens
The third quarter saw progress in the U. S. market with a new contract on the U. S. east coast, and an expansion of an existing integrated delivery network (IDN) customer. Adoption of rapid AST remains slower than we would like to see. Customers acknowledge its utility for patient care but are often limited by budget processes.
To help accelerate customer contracting timelines, we contracted with the U. S. group purchasing organisation (GPO) Premier, which represents thousands of hospitals across the country. This is expected to significantly reduce contracting timelines for member hospitals and increase visibility of ASTar across the network.
The U. S. also saw its highest level of consumables usage through the quarter, reflecting an increase following adoption of the expanded menu.
At the same time, multiple evaluations remain underway or have recently concluded. Several sites have now implemented our latest platform updates, and customer feedback continues to be positive. Looking ahead, we expect the requirement for lengthy evaluations to gradually decrease as existing customers generate real-world performance data, and new customers adopt alternative commercial models such as Verify & Adopt agreements.
Outside the U. S., Q-linea continues to make progress in EMEA and Asia. Two additional ASTar systems were awarded through tender in Italy, reinforcing our leadership position there with an additional unit shipped to our distribution markets. Positive outcomes from evaluations in Southern and Eastern Europe strengthen our confidence in future deployments later this year.
The quarter marked an important step in execution of our product roadmap with the launch of our Isolate RUO product. This launch demonstrates our commitment to expanding the ASTar platform over time to address the full spectrum of
antimicrobial susceptibility testing needs. Beyond Isolate RUO, our development pipeline remains active, and we expect to communicate additional product and menu expansion milestones over the next six to twelve months.
Operationally, increasing consumables demand is beginning to provide benefits beyond revenue growth. More predictable order patterns allow us to plan production more efficiently, while additional consumables manufacturing cost reduction
initiatives remain underway. Similarly, growing instrument volumes are creating opportunities to reduce the manufacturing cost of the ASTar system itself.
Our disciplined cost management maintained operating expenses below 10.5 (13.8) MSEK per month for the nine-month period. We have been able to offset increased commercial costs with efficiencies elsewhere in the business. As a result, our net cash flow has developed favorably compared to our plan and the corresponding period last year, despite a MSEK 10 decrease of operating liabilities in the period.
We are entering the final quarter of the year focused on securing the commercial pipeline but are humble to the real challenges in launching new technology in the field of diagnostics. Total new contracts for the year are unfortunately well below what we had planned, primarily due to slower adoption in the U. S. market. This puts us roughly a year behind on our long-term targets with respect to contracted base and revenue development communicated in March 2025.
However, with six new contracts since our last quarterly report, a fleet expansion of 25 percent, we are continuing our move in the right direction. Together with consistent positive customer feedback from both existing customers as well as users evaluating the system in our pipeline, ASTar is well positioned as the leading rapid AST platform to capture market growth as it opens.
Stuart Gander, VD | Uppsala, Sweden
Presentation
A conference call with CEO Stuart Gander and Interim CFO Annika Blondeau Henriksson will be held on 30 October 2026 at 13:00 - 14:00 CET.
Investors, analysts and media representatives are welcome to participate.
To participate, please register here
There will be an opportunity to submit written questions during the webcast.
To ask questions verbally, please register here
For more information, please contact:
Stuart Gander, President & CEO, Q-linea AB
stuart.gander@qlinea.com
Annika Blondeau Henriksson, Interim CFO, Q-linea AB
IR@qlinea.com
+ 46 (0) 70-600 15 20
About Q-linea
Q-linea AB (publ) is an innovative infection diagnostics company dedicated to saving lives and reducing healthcare costs by developing and delivering solutions for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. The company's core focus is on rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (rAST), a critical step in the treatment of sepsis and other severe infections.
Q-linea's flagship technology, ASTar®, is a fully automated instrument designed to deliver rapid phenotypic AST results directly from positive blood cultures in approximately six hours. By significantly reducing the time to answer compared to traditional methods, Q-linea enables physicians to prescribe the optimal antibiotic treatment sooner, improving patient outcomes and actively combating the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, Q-linea AB is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (STO:QLINEA).
This information is information that Q-linea is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 2026-10-30 07:30 CET.
