Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

Good evening. Thank you for attending today's Bio-Rad Laboratories Q4 and full year financial results conference call. My name is Hannah and I will be your moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Edward Chung, Head of Investor Relations with Bio-Rad. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Hannah. Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us. Today, we will review the fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results and provide an update on key business trends for Bio-Rad. With me on the phone today are Norman Schwartz, our Chief Executive Officer, Ilan Daskal, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Andy Last, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Simon May, President of the Life Science Group, and Dara Wright, President of the Clinical Diagnostics Group. Before we begin our review, I would like to caution everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements about management's goals, plans and expectations, our future financial performance, and other matters. These statements are based on assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risk and uncertainties. Included in these forward-looking statements are commentary regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bio-Rad's results and operations and steps Bio-Rad is taking in response to the pandemic. Our actual results may differ materially from these plans and expectations, and the impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and I encourage you to review our filings with the SEC where we discuss in detail the risk factors in our business. The company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements made during the call today. Finally, our remarks today will include references to non-GAAP net income and diluted earnings per share, which are financial measures that are not defined under generally accepted accounting principles. Investors should review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP results contained in our earnings release. With that, I will now turn the call over to Alon Vasco, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Thank you, Ed. Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us, and we hope that you and your families are well and staying healthy during these challenging times. Before I begin the detailed fourth quarter and full year discussion, I would like to ask Andy Glass, our Chief Operating Officer, to provide an update on Bioware's operations in light of the current pandemic-related environment that we are experiencing globally. Andy? All right.

Many thanks, Alain. So as an opening comment, I would like to once again recognize the tremendous contributions, resilience, and responsiveness of all of our employees around the world as we close out a second challenging year for the pandemic. As we enter 2021, we continue to maintain our focus on the three key areas we previously highlighted. The ongoing safety of our employees, continuing manufacturing operations to ensure product supply and support of our customers, and making sure we continue to advance our core strategies. During Q4, we continue to experience solid recovery in most of our key global markets. as well as an uptick in demand for COVID-related products driven by the explosive spread of the new Omicron variant. As indicated in Q3, we also experienced a growing increase in supply chain challenges driven by the inconsistency of supply for key components, particularly electronic components and plastics. We also saw some logistics challenges at year end. The organization responded well to this situation, although it did result in an inability to fulfill all our orders in Q4. In addition, for the first time, we saw a great impact of Omicron on our workforce, although we believe our mandatory vaccination program in the United States helped us to avoid the worst of this situation. Overall, despite these challenges, we finished the year strongly and are very encouraged by the progress and growth we delivered in 2021. And as we enter 2022, we continue to spend considerable effort on sourcing components and balancing our efforts to meet growing customer demands and expect that this situation will persist through Q1 and well into Q2. As a result, the COVID-19 Omicron variant We also extended our work-from-home policy until March 15th, at which point we will reassess the situation. While we experienced an uptick in demand for our COVID products in Q4 as Omicron spread, we still expect COVID-related demand for our products to be sequentially lower in 2022. We see that the majority of our end markets are well served with testing capacity, However, the nature of the COVID pandemic may well generate pockets of unexpected demand as hotspots of disease break out across our global markets. Broadly, our end markets have now adapted well to operating in the pandemic environment, and core product demand has generally recovered to close to normal levels. Thank you for your attention, and I'll pass it back to Alain.

Thank you, Andy. Now I would like to review the results of the fourth quarter and four years. Net sales for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $732.8 million, which is a 7.2% decrease on a reported basis, versus $789.8 million in Q4 of 2020. On a currency-neutral basis, sales decreased 6.9%. The decline in revenue was a result of $32 million related to the Intellectual Property Litigation Award included in Q4 of 2020, as well as lower COVID-related sales this year. Excluding the 32 million damages award in 2020, the fourth quarter year-over-year currency neutral revenue decline was 2.9%, again, mainly related to lower COVID sales. We estimate that COVID-related sales were about $46 million in the quarter, which was roughly double our forecast and reflected continued spikes in demand from geographies where new outbreaks have occurred. Despite the supply chain challenges, the fourth quarter currency neutral core year-over-year revenue, which excludes COVID-related sales, increased 10.2%. In addition, supply chain constraints did impact the fourth quarter revenue by approximately $30 million of which we expect to recover about $20 million in 2022. On a geographic basis, we experienced currency-neutral year-over-year core revenue growth across all three regions, while COVID-related year-over-year sales declined globally. As a reminder, our core revenue is defined as currency-neutral, non-GAAP, and excludes COVID results. Sales of the Life Science Group in the fourth quarter of 2021 were $326.6 million, compared to $428.5 million in Q4 of 2020, which is a 23.8% decline on a reported basis and a 23.4% decline on a currency neutral basis. Excluding COVID-related sales and the $32 million settlement for bed royalties, The underlying life science business, year-over-year currency-neutral core revenue growth, was 7.9%. The year-over-year growth was driven by Droplet Digital PCR, as well as our QPCR business, which is experiencing nice uptake from our new generation CFX Opus platform. On a geographic basis, life science experienced currency-neutral year-over-year core revenue growth across all three regions, while COVID-related year-over-year sales declined globally. Sales of the clinical diagnostics group in the fourth quarter were $404.9 million compared to $359.6 million in Q4 of 2020, which is a 12.6% increase on a reported basis, and a 12.8% increase on a currency-neutral basis. Excluding COVID-related sales, the clinical diagnostic business year-over-year currency-neutral core revenue growth was 12.1%. During the fourth quarter, the diagnostics group posted growth across all of its product lines. The year-over-year growth was driven by a recovery of routine testing which is now generally approaching pre-COVID levels. On a geographic basis, the diagnostics group, Commercy Neutral Year-over-Year Sales, grew mid-second digit in the Americas and saw double-digit growth in the Europe and Asia regions. The reported growth margin for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 54.7% on a gap basis, and compares to 58.3% in Q4 of 2020. The fourth quarter gross margin year-over-year decline was mainly due to the $32 million settlement payment in 2020, and to a lesser extent, product mix, increased freight cost, and lower manufacturing utilization related to our overall supply chain challenges. Amortization related to prior acquisitions recorded in cost of goods sold was $4.7 million, as compared to $4.6 million in Q4 of 2020. SG&A expenses for Q4 of 2021 were $224.1 million, or 30.6 percent of sales, compared to $219.1 million, or 27.7 percent in Q4 of 2020. Increases in SG&A spend was mainly the result of employee-related expenses and increased marketing activities. Total amortization expense related to acquisition recorded in SG&A for the quarter was $1.8 million versus $2.4 million in Q4 of 2020. Research and development expense in Q4 was $69.9 million or 9.5% of sales compared to $65.8 million, or 8.3% of sales in Q4 of 2020. Q4 operating income was $107 million, or 14.6% of sales, compared to $175.2 million, or 22.2% of sales in Q4 of 2020. The lower year-over-year operating income was driven by the significantly lower contribution from COVID-related sales. The reduced COVID sales, negatively impacted mix, and along with supply chain constraint, contributed to lower manufacturing utilization. In addition, Q4 of 2020 benefited from the $32 million intellectual property settlement. Looking below the operating line, the change in fair market value of equity securities holdings which are substantially related to BioRed's ownership of Sartorius AG shares, negatively impact the reported results by $2 billion and $153 million. Also during the quarter, interest and other income resulted in a net benefit of $7.5 million, primarily driven by the investment income and compared to $1 million of expense last year. The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 22.8% compared to 22.2% for the same period in 2020. The effective tax rates were primarily affected by the change in value of the security holdings. Reported net loss for the fourth quarter was $1,574,000,000, and diluted loss per share were $52.59. This is a decrease from last year and is largely related to changes in valuation of the Sartorius holdings. Moving on to the non-GET results. Looking at the results on a non-GET basis, we have excluded certain atypical and unique items that impacted both the gross and operating margins, as well as other income. These items are detailed in the reconciliation table in the press release. Looking at the non-GET results for the fourth quarter, in cost of goods sold, we have excluded $4.7 million of amortization of purchased intangibles, a small restructuring, and non-recurring items. These exclusions move the gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2021 to a non-GET gross margin of 55.4%, versus 58.2% in Q4 of 2020. Non-GET SG&A in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 30.2% versus 28.2% in Q4 of 2020. In SG&A, on a non-GET basis, we have excluded amortization of purchased intangibles of $1.8 million. An in vitro diagnostic registration fee in Europe for previously approved products of $1.6 million, legal-related expenses of $900,000, and the restructuring-related benefit of $1.4 million. Non-GAAP R&D expense in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 9.8% versus 8.7% in Q4 of 2020. In R&D, on a non-GAAP basis, we have excluded a $2 million restructuring benefit A cumulative sum of these non-GET adjustments result in moving the quarterly operating margin from 14.6% on a GET basis to 15.4% on a non-GET basis. This non-GET operating margin compares to a non-GET operating margin of 21.4% in Q4 of 2020. We have also excluded certain items below the operating line which are the decrease in value of the Sartorius equity holdings of 2 billion and 153 million, and about a $1.6 million loss associated with venture investments. The non-GAAP effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 20.3% compared to 24.3% for the same period in 2020. The lower rate in 2021 was driven by the geographic mix of earnings. And finally, non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $97 million, or $3.21 diluted earnings per share, compared to $121 million and $4.01 per share in Q4 of 2020. Moving on to the full year results. Net sales for the full year of 2021 were $2,923,000,000 on a reported basis. Excluding the settlement for back royalties of $32 million, 2021 sales reached $2,891,000,000, which is 12.8% non-GAAP revenue growth on a currency-neutral basis. COVID-related sales for the full year were about $266 million compared to $318 million in the year-ago period on a currency-neutral basis. Core year-over-year revenue growth, which we define as currency-neutral non-GAAP and excludes COVID-related sales, was 17%. Sales of the Life Science Group for 2021 were $1 billion and $401 million. Excluding the settlement for bank royalties of $32 million, the year-over-year growth was 12.3% on a currency-neutral basis. When excluding COVID-related sales, life science year-over-year currency-neutral growth was 23.6%. The majority of the year-over-year growth was driven by our core PCR products, Droplet Digital PCR, Process Media, and WesternBlock. On a geographic basis, life science currency-neutral full year-over-year sales grew across all three regions. Sales of clinical diagnostics products for 2021 were $1,516,000,000, which is growth of 13.6% on a currency-neutral basis. When excluding COVID-related sales, clinical diagnostics year-over-year currency-neutral growth was 12.8%. The strong year-over-year growth was driven by the overall recovery of routine testing. On a geographic basis, clinical diagnostics full year-over-year sales grew across all regions. The full year non-GET gross margin was 57.3%, compared to 56.9% in 2020. The year-over-year margin increase was driven mainly by improved manufacturing efficiencies as a result of our various initiatives. Full-year non-GAF SG&A as a percentage of sales was 28.6% compared to 30.9% in 2020, and benefited from higher revenue despite increased employee-related costs and discretionary expenses. Full-year non-GAAP R&D was $258.6 million, or 8.9% of sales, versus $227.9 million, or 9.1% in 2020. And full-year non-GAAP operating income was 19.8%, compared to 17% in 2020, representing significant year-over-year improvement in performance. Lastly, the non-GAAP effective tax rate for the full year of 2021 was 21.2%, which was consistent with our guidance range. The 21.2% non-GAAP effective tax rate for 2021 was lower than the 24% non-GAAP rate for 2020, as a result of an increase in compensation-related tax deductions. Moving on to the balance sheet. Total cash and short-term investments at the end of 2021 was $875 million, compared to $997 million at the end of 2020, and $1,343 million at the end of the third quarter of 2021. The change in cash and short-term investments from the third quarter was primarily due to the loan to the Sartorius Herbs Special Purpose Entity and the payment for the Dropworks acquisition, which was partially offset by cash flow generated from operations. During the fourth quarter, we did not purchase any shares of our stock, and we had a total of $223 million available for potential share buybacks. Full-year share buybacks was about 90,000 shares for $50 million. In 2020, we purchased about 292,000 shares of our stock for $100 million. For the fourth quarter of 2021, net cash generated from operating activities was $157.9 million, which compares to $284.7 million in Q4 of 2020. This decrease mainly reflects change in working capital and lower operating profits. For the full year of 2021, net cash generated from operations was $656.5 million versus $575.3 million in 2020. This increase mainly reflects higher full-year operating profits. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 19.1% of sales. The adjusted EBITDA in Q4 of 2020 was 25.2%. Full-year adjusted EBITDA, including the sartorial dividend, was $696.4 million dollars, or about 24.1 percent, compared to 21.7 percent in 2020. Net capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $43.2 million, and full-year CapEx spend was $120.8 million. Depreciation and amortization for the fourth quarter was $33.7 million, and $133.8 million for the full year. Moving on to the non-GAAP guidance for 2022. Overall, we are pleased with the performance in 2021 as the global economy is adapting to operating with COVID. Going into 2022, we expect to continue the positive momentum that we established in 2021. However, we expect to see the ongoing supply chain constraints that we experienced in Q4 persist through the first half of 2022. As a result, we anticipate a lower year-over-year growth in the first half of 2022, with higher growth in the back half of the year. As mentioned earlier, we expect to recover in 2022 about $20 million of revenue carryover from 2021, related to supply chain constraints. We are guiding the currency neutral revenue growth in 2022 to be between 1% and 2%, which includes about $70 million of COVID-related sales that are significantly subsiding from the prior two years. Excluding COVID-related sales, we estimate currency neutral revenue growth in 2022 to be between 8.5% and 9.5%. We estimate about 2% to 3% currency-neutral revenue growth for the diagnostics group. The diagnostics group year-over-year revenue growth, excluding COVID, is expected to be between 3% and 4%. The life science group year-over-year currency-neutral revenue growth is expected to be between flat and 1.5%. as we project the COVID-related sales in 2022 to significantly decline. Excluding COVID-related sales, the life science group year-over-year currency-neutral revenue growth is expected to be between 16% and 18%. We continue to assume that we will experience quarterly revenue fluctuations for process media, although we estimate an overall double-digit growth for the full year. Full-year non-GAAP gross margin is projected to be about 57.5%. We plan to offset inflationary cost pressure with targeted price realization, particularly within the life science group. Full-year non-GAAP operating margin is projected to be approximately 19%. We estimate the non-GAAP full-year tax rate to be between 22% and 23%. CapEx is projected to be approximately $140 million, and full-year adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 23.5% and 23.8%. Lastly, I'd like to remind everyone that we will be holding an in-person investor day on February 25th at the New York Stock Exchange. That concludes our prepared remarks, and we will now open the line to take your questions. Operator?

Certainly. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by 1 on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you would like to remove that question, please press star followed by 2. Again, to ask a question, press star 1. As a reminder, if you are using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question. We will pause here briefly as questions are registered. The first question is from the line of Brandon Couillard with Jefferies. You may proceed.

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon, guys. Alon, maybe just starting with the outlook on the top line, I mean, 9% growth in the base business, including 16% to 18% life sciences is pretty punchy and well above kind of what we're, I think, kept accustomed to seeing out of Bio-Rad in a normal year. Just sort of elaborate on kind of the drivers of that stream, particularly in life sciences and your level of visibility. to hitting those targets, and to what degree, if at all, have you kind of embedded some real conservatism, perhaps from ongoing component shortages, things like that?

So, Brandon, hi. Actually, this is Andy. Yeah, I think, you know, the guidance reflects basically the execution of the core strategies that we've been pursuing for the lifetime business, you know, the growth drivers in by our farmer, the ongoing growth in our digital PCR business, processed chrome, et cetera. So, you know, it's certainly an improvement in growth rate. As to the component supply, so we're seeing a challenge certainly in the first quarter, and we see that extending a bit into the second quarter. But we do see line of sight to the end of those supply constraints, and all being well, we'll see a good acceleration in the second half. So I would say the performance is driven by the execution of our core strategies, which are playing out nicely in our various end markets.

Yeah, Brendan, I will highlight what I mentioned earlier, that the first half we

lower than the back half of the year i mean that's exactly what drive us down to buy that way okay maybe just on that alarm you know any kind of color you can kind of share with me some sort of how we should think about top line growth for the first half or second half i mean first half maybe low singles and then in the back out you know north of the top of the range for the full year any kind of questions

Yeah, that's a fair assessment, Brandon. Low single, you know, in the first half, and then accelerating in the second half. Overall, in the midpoint for the full year, it's about 9%.

Okay, gotcha. And then in terms of the margin outlook, I mean, the 19% operating margin, you know, for the year, probably better than we expected. Are you able to quantify the impact of the lower COVID revenues compared to what you're saying for base business margin expansion? And secondly, do you expect to capture any benefit from the European restructuring in the second half at all?

So, yeah, it's a great question, Brandon. We did not break down specifically the COVID-related kind of impact on the bottom line. However, you know, the guidance does bake in the virus initiatives that we started, you know, last year. We do plan to have some realization of the benefits in the back half of this year. So that's definitely a contributor. The mix this year, you know, and the fall through from a higher top line, and higher utilization that we expect in the manufacturing footprint are also a contributor to the overall gross margin. On the other hand, you know, on the operating expenses, we do plan on incremental discretionary costs. We, you know, return to the office and increased employee-related costs. So that's the overall dynamic, but I think I captured kind of for you most of the kind of levers that led us to the guidance.

Great. And, Watson, can you give a sense of kind of what you're betting for net pricing for the year?

Thanks. Can you say the question again, please, Brandon? Pricing. Oh, pricing?

Yeah, just around, you know, yeah, net pricing for the full year.

Yeah, we're certainly looking to take pricing through where we can, but it's largely as an offset to, basically cost inflation, raw material inflation that we're experiencing. So I think pretty much consistent with the rest of the industry right now, which is, you know, on the life science side, we do see opportunity to essentially offset the cost drivers that are coming at us with some price improvements.

Gotcha. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. you mr couillard the next question is from the line of patrick donnelly with city you may proceed hey guys thanks for taking the questions um maybe you want on the supply chain it might be for you andy um can you talk about where the pressure points are i mean i know last quarter you kind of talked about it being a little bit of everywhere and a new kind of a new issue every week that you guys were able to handle Is it still a little bit of that? And then, again, encouraging to hear the line of sight that you guys feel this will alleviate around the middle of the year. I guess just talk about that confidence level. And do you expect things to continue to get pushed out? It was nice to see only a little bit of sales lost versus captured in one queue. Should we expect that trend to continue?

Yeah. So the supply constraints for the first part of your question, there is a little bit of randomness to it. You know, we have... a very large portfolio, as you know, and they're mostly electronic components of different forms. It can be as simple as a power supply, but, you know, a lot of it is chip-related, which is a broad global problem right now. And it's just very inconsistent, and you believe you're going to get a certain component, and then it doesn't arrive, and, you know, you have to scramble. So it's very challenging. The organization is doing extremely well to cope with it. As we look into Q1 and through Q1 to Q2, we do feel we're kind of in the thick of it and that we see Q2 will be kind of supply catching up with demand. And that's our current line of sight. We're generally getting signs that component supply will come back more completely in in Q2, so that's why we're guiding second half, and it is a major acceleration. The big challenge, of course, is to retain the orders through that period, and in some parts of the portfolio, we can definitely do that. In other areas, it's much harder, and we've considered that in our guidance.

That's helpful. And then maybe to circle back on the top line again, that life science growth, you know, really strong and good to see. Can you talk about, you know, where we are in digital PCR? Obviously I'm sure we'll hear more about it in a couple of weeks, but just in terms of the growth outlook, clearly big driver this year feels like we're still early innings, but we love your perspective on what applications we're seeing kind of take off here. And then again, the growth outlook, the sustainability of this type of, growth as this big driver?

Yeah. Look, we remain very, very confident about the growth potential of digital, drop the digital PCR. Had another good year. Another good year is anticipated in our guidance, strong double digit. And I would say our strategy and focus areas remain consistent, you know, strong biopharma performance, and just general end market adoption as they better and better understand the value proposition of high sensitivity, but, you know, easy to use digital PCR. So there's nothing to suggest a slowdown in our view right now. And Patrick, I will add that, obviously, you know, later this month in the investor day, we plan to... Yeah, we'll elaborate more and talk maybe a bit more about the... the product portfolio that we're working on for the future.

Yeah, look forward to that. Alon, maybe one for you on the cap deployment side. You mentioned you didn't buy back any stock in 4Q. Given the market pullback in January, should we expect you guys are typically pretty opportunistic? Were you active on that front to start the year? And then secondarily, kind of just your appetite, I know you guys talked a little bit about Good appetite for bolt-ons. You know, Norm, if you have any perspective as well, that'd be great.

Yeah, so, Patrick, obviously we were and still are in a quiet period, so we were not able to trade. But we'll definitely continue to be opportunistic. We have about $223 million in our plan, and, you know, we'll find the right timing to step in. It's similar to the past, you know, We won't hesitate to be interested in case we find those opportunities.

Yeah, and certainly in the fourth quarter, you may remember we did manage to complete the acquisition to Dropworks, bought ourselves kind of a platform in development for what I would call the entry level in Dropout Digital PCR, really adds to our portfolio. continue to have a number of opportunities in the queue, and we're working through them.

Great. Thanks, Mel.

Thank you, Mr. Donnelly. The next question is from the line of Dan Leonard with Wells Fargo. You may proceed.

Thank you for taking the question. So I want to circle back to a question Brandon asked earlier on the margin side. Your EBITDA margin guidance for 2022 puts you well in the range of what was your prior 2023 target without meaningful COVID revenue to contribute. So what's trending better than your initial plan? What would you point to?

You know, in terms of the, it's probably a combination of top line growth, mix that we do benefit from the overall mix fall through to the gross margin. The various initiatives, the restructuring that we communicated early last year, there are additional initiatives that are ongoing in our operations in other areas. It's probably throughout the different line items of the P&L that gets us there.

You mentioned a couple of times biopharma. The last time you offered at your analyst day five years ago, proportion of revenue in life science coming from biopharma was pretty low. I think two-thirds of that life science segment was academic, actually. Has that mix meaningfully changed? Can you update us on what the proportion between academic and biopharma looks like in that business today?

So, Dan, we do... We do plan to provide, you know, an update on that in the investor day. I mean, we're going to elaborate and you'll see the analysis there.

I don't know, Andy, if today you want to... Well, I think we're fine-tuning that set of numbers. I'd hate to communicate some numbers now that we end up changing as we make sure they're fully, you know, an accurate set. But stay tuned.

But stay tuned, yeah. It definitely is something that we plan to discuss during the investor day.

I look forward. And the final question, what's your outlook for demand in China in 2022?

I think our outlook in China is consistent with, you know, recent history. We're largely underpenetrated in China. So, you know, so for us, we see China in particular and the whole Asia-Pac region as an upside opportunity as we move you know, penetrate those markets, in particular biopharma. And we're investing in the region. So we're investing in our channel. So for us, it's a growth driver.

Understood. I'll leave it there. Thanks for the time.

Thank you, Dan.

Thank you, Mr. Lantern. The next question is from the line of Jack Meehan with Nephron Research. You may proceed.

Thank you, and good afternoon. I wanted to go back just to clarify on the supply chain impact. Just is it possible to give a little bit more granularity on which products were impacted or break out that $30 million impact by division? And when do you expect the $20 million to hit? Do you expect that to come back more later in 2022?

So it was predominantly on the life science side, so very largely on the life science side of the business. Small impact on the clinical side. And we don't see it coming back in one bolus. It's going to be spread towards the latter part of Q2 and into the second half of the year.

Okay. And then, um, another question on digital PCR. So I was hoping you could just give a mark to market. What is the mix of this business now between recurring and capital? If you look at the sales in 2021, um, and on the capital side was curious just with the introduction of, you know, QX one a couple of years ago, and then, um, some of the, you know, innovation you're working on now, just the expectations for how has the capital piece been growing?

This is Simon. Obviously, over time, we're seeing a healthy migration where that mix is concerned. I'd say at the present time, it's around 50-50, and we'd expect to see that continue to evolve in a positive direction.

In the capital piece, how have the new launches been going?

Yeah, QX1 has been very well accepted in the market. We've been happy with the uptake there.

Okay, great. And then I had one on Sartorius. So just looking at the balance sheet, so the stake came down to $14.4 billion in the quarter. So just was hoping you could help me with the math because Sartorius' share price actually was up almost 10% in the fourth quarter. I know it's come in to start the year, but just, you know, help me. you know, just better understand why the value actually came down sequentially?

Sure. So, Jack, we hold two different shares. You have the ordinary shares of Sartorius and the preference shares. They're also traded separately, and they carry different values every day. And so we have two different stakes, and probably that's where the difference that you see.

Okay. And last question. I think earlier today Sartorius talked about a higher dividend rate to start the year. Just was hoping you could quantify, you know, what that means for Bio-Rad and what I should be penciling in here in the first quarter.

So, you know, we generally don't guide by quarter, but, you know, our current assumption is about, because we didn't know about the dividend that they're going to announce. So our assumption was a flat dividend from last year. So we will have to wait and see if there is any difference there.

Okay. Sounds good. Thanks, Ilan.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Meehan. There are no additional questions waiting in queue at this time. So we'll pass the call back to Ed Chung for any closing remarks.

Thank you for joining today's call. We appreciate your interest, and we look forward to connecting soon. Goodbye.

That concludes today's BioRod Laboratory's Q4 and full-year financial results conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.