Alpha Teknova, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the TechNova second quarter 2022 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to the first speaker, Ms. Sarah Mishelmore.

Great. Thank you, operator. Welcome to TechNova's second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. With me on today's call are Stephen Gunstream, TechNova's president and chief executive officer, and Matt Lowell, TechNova's chief financial officer, who will make prepared remarks and then take your questions. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements that we make during this call, including those regarding business goals and expectations for the financial performance of the company, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ. Additional information concerning these risk factors is included in the press release the company issued earlier today, and they are more fully described in the company's various filings with the SEC. Today's comments reflect the company's current views, which could change as a result of new information, future events, or other factors, and the company does not obligate or commit itself to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. The company's management believes that in addition to GAAP results, non-GAAP financial measures can provide meaningful insight when evaluating the company's financial performance and the effectiveness of its business strategies. During this call, we will therefore use non-GAAP financial measures of certain of our results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are included in the press release that we issued this afternoon, which is posted to Technova's website and at the www.sec.gov slash edgar. Non-GAAP financial measures should always be considered only as a supplement to and not as a substitute for or as superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation may differ from similarly named non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Please also be advised that the company has posted a supplemental slide deck to accompany today's prepared remarks. It can be accessed on the investor relations section of TechNova's website and on today's webcast. And now I will turn the call over to Stephen.

Thank you, Sarah. Good afternoon and thank you everyone for joining us for our second quarter earnings call. Technova is a leading provider of critical reagents that accelerate the introduction of drug therapies, novel vaccines, and molecular diagnostics. We manufacture high quality customer agents with short turnaround times and are positioned to scale with our customers as they advance their products from discovery to commercialization. This is best exemplified in cell and gene therapy, where there is a significant need for custom-made reagents in volumes less than 1,000 liters. Our ability to manufacture custom clinical-grade bioprocessing solutions with short turnaround times enables our cell and gene therapy customers to reduce the time from discovery to clinical impact. Our interactions with current and potential customers continue to validate the growing need for high-quality custom research and clinical-grade solutions across the industry. and we're investing to meet the demand. Already, approximately 80 cell and gene therapy customers regularly use Technovus products with over 45 of those purchasing custom and or clinical grade reagents. We believe this provides us with a strong foundation for growth as their therapies advance through the development pipeline and into commercial production. The outlook for cell and gene therapy remains promising and there is a significant market for us to target today with over 1,900 therapies in early stages of clinical development. During Q2, we increased our existing manufacturing capacity and advanced the construction of our new state-of-the-art facility in Hollister, California. This facility remains on track to be operational by the end of 2022 and will give us the capacity to manufacture approximately an additional $150 million in product revenue annually. We expect to complete the initial phase of our build-out by the end of Q3 and to begin qualification activities later this fall. We continue to build our organization and have made nearly all the critical hires we require to execute our growth plan. Technova has grown significantly over the past year, and I want to thank all of our associates whose dedication has been and will continue to be critical to our success. During Q2, we also achieved record revenue and are pleased to have finished the first half of 2022 with strong revenue performances in both our lab essentials and clinical solutions portfolios. While we continue to see healthy demand across our broader customer base, we now expect lower than anticipated revenue in the second half of 2022. We believe this is due in a large part to certain of our early-stage biopharma customers deferring large purchases in both our lab essentials and clinical solutions portfolios. Specifically, these customers report that they are actively managing their near-term orders for products. We believe this may reflect company-specific efforts to extend cash runway in response to perceived challenges in the capital markets funding environment. Early-stage biopharma customers, including cell and gene therapy customers, do represent an important fast-growing end market for our custom and clinical-grade products. Our exposure to this customer segment is greater than some of our bioprocessing peers, but also positions us well to participate in what we believe to be a significant growth opportunity ahead. We are engaged with our customers, including those who have deferred orders, and they have expressed their intention to order from us in the future. We continue to expect to support them as they advance the development programs critical to their future success. While we have revised our 2022 revenue outlook, I want to reiterate our belief that the fundamental growth opportunity for Technova remains unchanged, and we are confident in our ability to help our customers accelerate the introduction of novel therapies through our unique ability to manufacture custom-made reagents in volumes less than 1,000 liters and with short turnaround times. Lastly, our balance sheet remains strong, and we have access to greater than $100 million in liquidity that will enable us to execute our growth strategy and achieve positive cash flow without the need to raise additional capital. I will now hand the call over to Matt for a discussion of financials.

Thanks, Stephen, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered strong results for the second quarter of 2022. Starting with revenue highlights, total revenue was $11.7 million for the second quarter of 2022, a 41% increase from $8.3 million in the second quarter of 2021. On the trailing 12-month basis, excluding sample transport revenue, total revenue increased 33%. Given our small overall revenue base and the potential for large orders to drive some variability in our growth rates, We believe trailing 12 months revenue growth is a useful additional metric to track our growth. By way of reminder, Technova launched the sample transport product in the latter part of 2020 to address the urgent need for COVID-19 tests and we no longer market or manufacture the product. Lab Essentials products are targeted at the research use only or RUO market and include both catalog and custom products. Lab Essentials revenue was $8.4 million in the second quarter, a 30% increase from $6.5 million in the second quarter of 2021, and an 18% increase on a trailing 12-month basis. It was a strong quarter for Lab Essentials, reflecting an increase in both the number of active customers and average revenue per active customer. Our custom order business also continues to grow on a trailing 12-month basis. Clinical solutions products are made according to good manufacturing practices, or GMP, quality standards, and are primarily used by customers in the clinical development or commercial release phase of a therapy or diagnostic. Our clinical solutions revenue was 2.9 million in the second quarter, an 85% increase from 1.6 million in the second quarter of 2021, and a 91% increase on a trailing 12-month basis. Revenue growth was strong in the quarter, primarily attributable to higher average revenue per active customer. We also observed an increase in the number of active customers. Turning to the income statement, gross profit for the second quarter of 2022 was $5.2 million compared to $3.4 million in the second quarter of 2021. Gross margin was 44.9% in the second quarter, which is up from 40.3% in the second quarter of 2021. Excluding the impact of a $0.7 million charge from recording and inventory reserve related to excess sample transport inventory, gross margin was 48.7% in the second quarter of 2021. Higher labor and overhead costs impacted gross margin in the second quarter of 2022. Operating expenses for the second quarter of 2022 were $11.9 million compared to $5.9 million in the second quarter of 2021. Operating expenses increased primarily related to additional headcount, marketing costs, and stock-based compensation expenses. We continue to invest in the people critical to our near and long-term success, including the addition of team members to the R&D, sales and marketing, people, and IT teams. As of June 30, 2022, the company had 295 associates, up 24% from December 31, 2021. Net loss for the second quarter of 2022 was $6.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $2.3 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, was negative 4.9 million for the second quarter of 2022 compared to negative 1.5 million for the second quarter of 2021. Now for cash flow and balance sheet highlights. Capital expenditure in the second quarter was 10.9 million compared to 4.7 million in the second quarter of 2021. The large majority of spend in the second quarter went towards our new facility, We also continue to make investments in our current production facilities. We are building capacity ahead of the demand curve to ensure our customers are able to receive their custom products in weeks instead of months. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure which we define as cash provided by or used in operating activities, less purchases of property, plant, and equipment. In the second quarter, was negative 16.8 million compared to negative 8.2 million in the second quarter of 2021. This decrease compared to the prior year period was primarily due to lower adjusted EBITDA and a significant increase in capital expenditure. Turning to the balance sheet, as of June 30th, 2022, we had 64.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and 17.1 million in gross debt. As I shared on our first quarter call in May, we amended our existing credit facility to increase the amount available under it by $30 million to $57 million. We took an additional draw of $5.1 million at closing in May and will be drawing a planned $5.0 million at the end of October. This new financing was a strategic priority to help ensure we will have the capital to execute our domestic organic growth plan. Turning to our 2022 revenue guidance and outlook, our new revenue guidance is $38 million to $42 million. At the midpoint, this guidance assumes revenue growth of approximately 13% as compared to 2021, excluding sample transport. With respect to product categories, we now expect year-over-year lab essentials revenue growth of approximately 10%. and clinical solutions revenue growth of at least 45%. Concurrent with the change in revenue outlook, we are actively slowing the pace of hiring relative to our prior forecast while we continue to invest in priority areas that will drive future demand, support the opening of our new facility, and strengthen our GMP capabilities. Our balance sheet is strong and coupled with the capital available to us under our credit facility, We are well positioned to execute our growth plan and achieve positive cash flow without needing to raise additional capital. With that, I'll turn the call back to Stephen. Thanks, Matt.

Overall, we were pleased with our second quarter 2022 performance and the progress we made against our strategic priorities. The fundamental growth opportunity for Technova remains unchanged, and we are confident in our ability to help our customers accelerate the introduction of novel therapies through our unique ability to manufacture custom-made reagents in bonds smaller than 1,000 liters with short turnaround times. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we have access to the capital we need to execute our growth strategy. We will now take your questions.

As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. Again, that is star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. And our first question comes from the line of Max Masucci with Colin. Your line is now open.

Hi, this is Stephanie on for Max. Thanks for taking the question and congrats on a great quarter. My first question is on your guide. load your guidance range due to early stage biopharma customers suffering large purchases. Can you just provide us some more details on how to bridge the low to high end of your guidance and what assumptions you're picking into both ends of the range?

Yeah, I'm happy to talk to that, Stephanie. Yeah, as you've heard from the comments we just made, we changed and lowered the guidance range to $38 to $42 million. We've, looking at the order book today, we feel that that's a reasonable range for performance in 2022. I would say things that could affect the, whether we move towards the lower end or the higher end of the range, depend really on the external environment here. As we said in our comments, we believe a lot of this is due to the uncertainty in the capital markets environment. So there is some dependency on how that gets resolved over the coming quarters. But I guess what I would say is if we have some larger orders more than expected come in here in the next several months, we would be expecting to come out towards the higher end of that range. And if for any reason there would be a worsening in the environment, that might push us towards the lower end. But otherwise, we think the midpoint of the range is a reasonable target based on what we know now.

Understood. That's helpful. And then just a follow-up on that. So it sounds like you're confident that the purchases from your early biopharma customers are only being deferred based on the comments you made earlier in the call. And it sounds like the purchases that they are deferring are coming from both lab essentials and clinical solutions. So I'd be curious to hear, especially with some of the custom products, Are there products that they are deferring not necessary for running their trials, or are these deferred product purchases for programs that are being halted for the time being? Any additional color would be great.

No problem, Stephanie. So we believe this is largely transient in nature. We've had conversations with all of these customers. And remember, from a lab essentials perspective, we do quite a bit in that custom side where we're doing custom reagents for them. for the development in the preclinical to clinical phases where they do not yet need clinical grade reagents. And so it's a combination of those and our clinical solutions customers which are in that early stage as well, which are basically at a point where they're saying we're not sure exactly based on timing, which we largely believe is due to the uncertainty in the market. And so it is both of those, but all of our conversations then end with the conversation about their belief in our products and their services and are excited to continue to work with us. It's just a matter of timing until those orders are actually pushed through.

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you. And then if I could just squeeze in one more. So your clinical solutions GMP business is progressing nicely and Q2 came in higher than we expected. Are you finding that your existing customers are transitioning from your RUO to GMP offerings sooner than expected, or are you finding new customers that want your GMP offerings right off the bat?

I'd say we have both. So we have an increase in the total number of clinical customers, as Matt mentioned in the call, but we also have those customers that have been in that pipeline for some time that are now progressing through. And so we are seeing kind of a benefit of both in this case. And remember that many of these customers are customers that we've been working with for the last six to 12 months to get them set up for the scale they need going forward. So these are kind of all in the works and migrate to that pipeline over time.

Got it. Understood. Thanks again for taking all my questions.

Thank you. Thank you.

Your next question. comes from the line of Matt Leroux with William Blair. Your line is now open.

Hey, good afternoon. Just trying to put the pieces here together a little bit because obviously you've now beat the last two quarters. Many of your larger peers reported beat and several raised. So the guide down does seem to be pretty out of step with what's going on both with your business here today and the space. Can you just tell us what your exposure is to early stage biopharma customers, both perhaps by number of customers, excuse me, percentage of revenue and percentage of your customer base?

So we're not going to disclose the exact numbers of these things, but I can talk to you a little bit in general terms, Matt. So we have, if you remember the company, we onboard our first GMP customer in 2008. And I believe at the end of 2021, we ordered, What's that? Sorry, 2018. And then at the end of 2021, we reported 22 active clinical customers. And so that represents, you can take a look at our clinical solutions revenue, which is now becoming on a trailing 12-month basis, about a quarter of our total revenue has been those 22 customers. And if you think about the timing of when those onboarded, they, by their very nature, have to be in the early stage. of the clinical development pipeline. And so I think that's a good way for you to kind of gauge exposure to the capital markets and environments. Like I said early in the call here, we absolutely believe that in cell and gene therapy in the long run, and our growth strategy remains unchanged. We believe these therapies are going to be the next wave of medicine, and it's just a timing issue right now that is transient in nature that we believe you know, will resolve itself over time here as the capital markets become more predictable and there's more clarity there.

Okay, and then on the guidance, Matt, maybe be a little bit more specific. Does anything, do any of the orders that these customers, these large orders that customers have indicated you are deferred, does any piece of the guidance assume those coming back during 2022?

No, no, we're not. Our current assumption is that those are those are deferred out of 2022. Of course, we're continuing with our teams to develop business as we always have. So there's certainly the possibility that there could be orders coming back or additional new orders that would come in this year. But our guidance right now at the point assumes a fairly static situation at this point. And as I mentioned earlier to Stephanie, there is some obviously with the range there, depending on what exactly we see happening through the end of this quarter, Q3, you know, there could be some, there's some obviously variable output options, excuse me, for what we might see for the full year. But right now, no, we're not assuming that those are in the pipeline or to be delivered in 2022.

Okay, and then finally, I would say a piece of the value prop here is the turnaround times. And in exchange for that, it's sort of customers that have been less price sensitive. I'm just curious, now that some customers are fishing short of cash runways, thinking about deferring expenses, if you're setting it in the conversation, they may be willing to tolerate longer lead times at an expense per cost. I'm just curious what the conversations look like with those deferred purchases and I might get them back.

To be honest, that has not come up at all. I think that we have a very loyal customer base. But yeah, I think when you think about the cost of the materials they'd be buying from us versus the cost of time, it's much more important than their products quickly. So as soon as they have their capital and want to drive that forward, I think that time is going to be of the essence for them and a priority. And every one of them that we've spoken with has indicated that this is just a timing piece. And we will be, as soon as that gets resolved, they will be placing those orders with us. Okay. Thank you. Thanks Matt.

Thank you.

And your next question comes from the line of Jacob Johnson from Stephens. Your line is now open.

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon. I, too, have some questions on guidance. Maybe first, you kind of talked about this as more of kind of a delay in orders. Maybe the timing's pushed out. Is there any element of this where you may, you know, lose out on these orders? Or could we be looking at a 2023 where you kind of have a catch-up? You know, who knows what 2023 is going to look like? But you have a catch-up from some of these deferred orders next year, plus kind of general growth. Just how we think about kind of deferring these orders versus maybe losing them?

Yeah, so first, we're not yet getting guidance on 2023, obviously, but from a perspective of have we lost customers or do we think we'll lose them, I think the answer is no. Like I said, we have had conversations with all of these customers, and they've indicated over and over again that this is where their priority and we're going to get this through. It's just a matter of at what point in time. So we do think this is largely a transient nature. Now, whether or not, you know, there is a backup and then a release and that is an additional growth driver in 2023, we cannot see yet. We do not know. But I will also say that, of course, you know, our efforts here, you know, from a market size perspective, we're still, as you know, a small portion of that overall cell and gene therapy market that are in that pipeline yet. And we're continuing to build that opportunity funnel. And they take six to 12 to 18 months for a lot of these customers. So I think that we still see a lot of validation from our customers that we are in the right spot in providing something that others cannot provide at the moment.

Okay, thanks for that, Steven. And then I think you talked about kind of maybe some lumpy orders being impacted on the clinical solutions side of things, but you also lowered the lab essentials outlook. Can you just talk about that segment? the impact there, and I apologize if you already spoke to it.

Sure, no problem. On the lab essential side, again, we have this underlying growth of the base business and the catalog side of the business that's historically been at Technova for a significant period of time and is in every major institution, life science institution in the United States. That continues to exist now if there's some pullback on the discovery side because the uncertainty, you know, that's different than what we're necessarily seeing. it's on the larger order side where they start to get into the custom piece where they're in that bridge between, say, a catalog product and a clinical product where those customers are getting their specific reagents and working through to scale up for preclinical. And so that's why that lab essentials is also in that range where things could be a little bit different.

Okay, that makes a ton of sense, Stephen. And then I guess last question is just kind of thinking ahead and thinking about the current environment we're in. You know, you've seen some of your existing customers pull back on spend, but in terms of your ability to add new customers, I guess particularly in clinical solutions, kind of any change in the efforts there? You know, is it harder to get people across the finish line? Just kind of thoughts on winning new customers there.

Yeah. Like I said, we got to talk to customers. Value proposition remains the same. There's clear recognition when we talk to them about what we offer versus what's available on the market. And as Matt indicated in the earnings call, we do see an increase in the total number of clinical customers. We're not releasing those numbers at this moment, but obviously the timing of that is when those bills and those orders actually come through. At this point in time, you know, we have not seen a change where someone is saying, look, actually, we're not going to be interested in moving to Technova at all at this point. It's just a matter of time. Okay.

Perfect. Thanks for taking all the questions, Stephen.

Sure. Thanks, Jacob.

As there are no further questions in the queue, this concludes our conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect and have a pleasant day. The conference will begin shortly. To raise your hand during Q&A, you can dial star 1 1.