Avantor, Inc.

I would like to welcome everyone to Avanzo's third quarter 2023 earnings results conference call. After the prepared remarks, there will be the opportunity for any questions which you can ask by pressing start followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you require operator assistance at any time, please press start followed by zero. I will now turn the call over to Christina Jones, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mrs. Jones, you may begin the conference.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Our speakers today are Michael Stubblefield, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Brynn Jones, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The press release and a presentation accompanying this call are available on our investor relations website at ir.avantoursciences.com. A replay of this webcast will also be made available on our website after the call. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. During this call, we will be making some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate may occur in the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our SEC filings. Actual results might differ materially from any forward-looking statements that we make today. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date that they are made. We do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or other developments. This call will include a discussion of non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures can be found in the press release and in the supplemental disclosure package on our Investor Relations website. With that, I will now turn the call over to Michael.

Thank you, CJ, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. I'm starting on slide three. Third quarter business results were in line with our guidance across all key financial metrics, including core organic revenue contraction of 7.9% and adjusted EPS of 25 cents. As anticipated, market conditions in the third quarter were similar to the conditions in the second quarter, as inventory destocking and cautious customer spending continued to impact demand in our biopharma, healthcare, and advanced technology in applied materials and markets. These headwinds were partially offset by continued strong growth in sales to our higher education customers and in our biomaterials platform, where we delivered another quarter of double-digit growth. Sales of bioproduction materials for cell and gene therapies was another bright spot in the quarter, reflecting our relevance in this growing space. Despite the industry-wide headwinds impacting the current environment, we are encouraged by the relative stability we have seen over the past couple of quarters and remain focused on executing the actions that we outlined in July to accelerate our growth strategy and control costs. This quarter, we continued those actions, including strengthening our balance sheet by paying down more than $650 million of debt year-to-date as free cash flow conversion in the quarter exceeded 110%, winning several new customer contracts and renewals in biopharma, education, and health care, as a result of our strong competitive position and enhanced commercial intensity. Continuing to add innovative proprietary products to the portfolio with our Avantor magnetic mixing system for single-use mixing needs and JT Baker MCA tips for the TCAM fluid handling platform. In addition, we generated strong momentum with Oxford Nanopore, one of our strategic suppliers for cell and gene therapies. Launching our scientific advisory board led by Dr. Jerob Rofi, including experts in biologic manufacturing and technology, chemistry, and gene therapy, who will guide our research and development efforts, and leveraging our Avantour business system to continue executing on our productivity initiatives. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we are assuming that the demand trends we have experienced over the last couple of quarters continue. Although activity levels remain strong and overall inventory health is improving, we have not yet seen a change in order patterns. Customer sentiment does seem to be improving, and we remain bullish on our outlook for the mid to long term, given the strength of our platform and overall market positioning. Before I turn the call over to Brent, I would remind you that he joined us in early August as part of our previously announced CFO transition. In the relatively short time that he has been with us, he has onboarded quickly and has already proven to be an excellent partner to me and to our leadership team as we work together to advance our growth strategy. With that, Let me turn it over to Brent to walk you through our third quarter results in more detail.