Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

good evening and thank you for attending today's bio rad laboratories 2022 earnings results conference call my name is donyell 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 followed by one on your telephone keypad i would now like to pass the conference over to our host edward chung head of investor relations of buyer red edward please proceed

Thanks, Daniel. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us. Today, we will review the third quarter 2022 financial results and provide an update on key business trends for BIRAD. On the call with me 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'd 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 risks 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 Daskal, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Thank you, Ed. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us. Before I begin the detailed third quarter discussion, I would like to ask Andy Gust, our Chief Operating Officer, to provide an update on BioRed's global operations. Andy?

All right. Thank you very much, Alon. So as the world continued its march to recovery from the pandemic, We experienced strong demand for both our life science and clinical diagnostic products, and our organization is broadly back to normal operations. We also had modestly higher than expected demand for COVID-related products, particularly in Asia Pacific. However, improvement in product supply in the quarter was slower to materialize than we expected, which negatively impacted sales across several product lines, particularly early in the quarter. and we continue to carry a significant order backlog. As previously mentioned, the areas of challenge have been primarily electronic components for instruments. We did experience improved product supply as the quarter progressed, and we now see a positive improvement trend for product supply as we enter the fourth quarter. In addition, during the quarter, we experienced significantly elevated logistics costs and ongoing higher costs in raw materials. Inventory levels increase quarter to quarter, reflecting strength in demand and the order backlog, as we focus on procuring the remaining key components. During the quarter, we launched our next-generation Droplet digital PCR system, QX600, which brings advanced six-color-based multiplexing and application flexibility, especially in oncology and reproductive health, to our customers. We are extremely pleased with the market response and have quickly built a strong order book. Also in Q3, we completed the acquisition of Curiosity Diagnostics and their PCR1 system. This system provides a sample to answer, high multiplex, and rapid diagnostic PCR system to facilitate our entry into the molecular disease testing market with a differentiated platform. Integration of this Warsaw, Poland-based company is progressing very smoothly. While relatively small, our business operations in Russia continue to be challenging as a result of increased sanctions and employee concerns over the military draft mandate. We expect sanctions to continue to impact operations for the near to medium term. Overall, we're very pleased with our performance in China, although the protracted zero COVID policy had some extended effect on our clinical and life science businesses in Q3. And we see the recovery to normal taking a little longer. In closing, as we enter Q4, our organization continues to focus on resolving the supply chain challenges, which importantly have already begun to ease. reducing our backlog, and reaching the high level of demand we are experiencing from our customers. Thank you, and I'll now pass you back to Alain.

Thank you, Andy. Now I would like to review the results of the third quarter. Net sales for the third quarter of 2022 were $680.8 million, which is an 8.9% decline on a reported basis. versus $747 million in Q3 of 2021. The third quarter decline in revenue was mainly a result of lower COVID-related sales this year, as well as the receipt of a one-time $32 million settlement for back royalties from 10X in the year-ago period. On a currency-neutral basis, revenue declined 4.1%. We estimate that COVID-related sales were $17 million in the quarter and continue to reflect an elevated level in demand, particularly in Asia, as a result of the ongoing outbreaks in China. Year-over-year core revenue, which excludes COVID-related sales and the 10X $32 million settlement in the third quarter of 2021, increased 6.1% on a currency-neutral basis. On a geographic basis, we experienced currency-neutral year-over-year core revenue growth in Europe and Asia. Core revenue in the Americas was largely flat as a result of the supply chain constraints that we have been experiencing in the past year. As Andy mentioned earlier, we continue to carry an elevated order backlog as a result of supply chain constraints and continued strong customer demand. We are now seeing higher production volumes and anticipate reductions of order backlog through the remainder of this year. Sales of the Life Science Group in the third quarter of 2022 were $317.9 million, compared to $373.5 million in Q3 of 2021, which is a 14.9% decline on a reported basis. and an 11% decline on a currency-neutral basis. Excluding last year's 10x settlement, the life science group sales declined 6.9% on a reported basis and a 2.3% decline on a currency-neutral basis. Despite supply chain constraints, the underlying life science year-over-year currency-neutral core revenue growth was 9.4%. The year-over-year growth was primarily driven by Western blotting, qPCR, process media, and our antibody products. We continue to see a strong order backlog for DD-PCR instruments as we continue to work through the supply chain challenges. I will highlight that DD-PCR consumables continue to pose strong double-digit growth. During the third quarter, we launched the QX600 DDT-CR system as previously communicated. While not material to the third quarter results, the initial market reception for the QX600 has been encouraging, and we are seeing a strong order pipeline building. Process media, which can fluctuate on a quarterly basis, continues to experience solid year-over-year growth, and we continue to expect strong double-digit growth for the franchise for the full year of 2022. Excluding process media sales and last year's 10x settlement, the underlying lifetime business declined 4.2% on a currency-neutral basis versus Q3 of 2021 due to lower COVID-related sales. When also excluding COVID-related sales, revenue growth was 9.6% on a currency-neutral basis. On a geographic basis, LifeScience experienced currency-neutral year-over-year core revenue growth in Europe and Asia, and was relatively flat in the Americas. Sales of the clinical diagnostics group in the third quarter were $361.9 million, compared to $372.2 million in Q3 of 2021, which is a 2.8% decline on a reported basis and growth of 3% on a currency-neutral basis. Core clinical diagnostics year-over-year growth, which excludes COVID-related sales, increased 3.7% on a currency-neutral basis, despite headwinds from sporadic lockdowns in China. The diagnostics group currency-neutral year-over-year increase was primarily driven by quality control, blood typing, and infectious disease products, and as I mentioned earlier, supply chain constraints had an impact on instrument placements. Despite the supply chain constraints impacting the instrument placements, we experienced increased consumables volume for diagnostics, driven by strong recovery in routine testing markets. As such, we believe that we are positioned to benefit from the strong underlying market dynamics in the coming quarters. On a geographic basis, the diagnostics group year-over-year currency-neutral core revenue grew in the Americas and Asia and declined in Europe. The reported gross margin for the third quarter of 2022 was 54.9 percent on a gap basis and compares to 58.6 percent in Q3 of 2021. Recall that the third quarter of 2021 included $32 million from illegal settlement that benefited gross margin in the year-ago period. The year-over-year gross margin decline was also impacted by significantly higher logistics and material costs, lower COVID sales, as well as overall product mix. These headwinds were partially offset by a positive currency impact due to the strong dollar and continued operational efficiencies achieved through the restructuring efforts. While we have implemented price increases to address inflationary costs, the realized price capture has only been a partial offset due to our instrument backlog situation. Amortization related to prior acquisitions recorded in cost of goods sold was $4.4 million as compared to $4.7 million in Q3 of 2021. SG&A expenses for Q3 of 2022 were $211 million or 31% of sales compared to $216.2 million or 28.9% in Q3 of 2021. The year-over-year SG&A expenses decreased mainly due to the stronger dollar and normalized employee-related benefits but was partially offset by higher discretionary spend. Total amortization expense related to acquisitions recorded in SG&A for the quarter was $1.8 million versus $2.4 million in Q3 of 2021. Research and development expense in the third quarter was $69.9 million, or 10.3% of sales, compared to $64.5 million or 8.6% of sales in Q3 of 2021. The year-over-year R&D expenses increased mainly due to project spend. Q3 operating income was $92.8 million or 13.6% of sales compared to $156.8 million or 21% in Q3 of 2021. 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 AT shares, negatively impacted the reported results by $289 million. During the quarter, interest and other income resulted in net other expense of $13 million, compared to net other expense of $3.2 million last year. Q3 of 2022 included about $8 million of interest and foreign currency expense and $5 million of expense related to an investment impairment. The effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2022 was 21.5 percent compared to 21.8 percent for the same period in 2021. The effective tax rate reported in Q3 of 2022 was primarily affected by the unrealized loss in equity securities, and the tax rate reported in Q3 of 2021 was primarily affected by unrealized gain in equity securities. Reported net loss for the third quarter was $164.2 million, and the diluted loss per share was $5.52, compared to $3,928,000,000 of net income and $129.96 per share in Q3 of 2021. This decrease from last year is largely related to changes in the valuation of the Sartorius Holdings. Moving on to the non-GAAP results. Looking at the results on a non-GAAP 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-GAAP results for the third quarter, in cost of goods sold, we have excluded $4.4 million of amortization of purchased intangibles and $1.3 million of restructuring costs. These exclusions move the gross margin for the third quarter of 2022 to a non-GAAP gross margin of 55.7% versus 57.9% in Q3 of 2021. Non-GAAP SG&A in the third quarter of 2022 was 30% versus 29.6% in Q3 of 2021. In SG&A, on a non-GAAP basis, we have excluded restructuring expense of $2.8 million, an in vitro diagnostic registration fee in Europe for previously approved products of $2.2 million, amortization of purchased intangibles of $1.8 million, and a small legal-related benefit. Non-GAAP R&D expense in the third quarter of 2022 was 10.2% versus 9% in Q3 of 2021. In R&D, on a non-GAAP basis, we have excluded $500,000 of restructuring costs. The cumulative sum of these non-GAAP adjustments result in moving the quarterly operating margin from 13.6% on a GAAP basis to 15.5% on a non-GAAP basis. This non-GAAP operating margin compares to a non-GAAP operating margin of 19.4% in Q3 of 2021. We have also excluded certain items below the operating line, which are the decrease in value of the Sartorius equity securities and loan receivable holdings of $289 million and the $6.6 million loss associated with venture investments. The non-GET effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2022 was 21.6%, compared to 18% for the same period in 2021. The higher rate in 2022 was driven by geographical mix of earnings, as well as a decrease in compensation related tax deductions. And finally, non-GET net income for the third quarter of 2022 was $77.9 million, or $2.60 diluted earnings per share, compared to $112.2 million and $3.71 per share in Q3 of 2021. Moving on to the balance sheet. Total cash and short-term investments at the end of Q3 were $1,856,000,000 compared to $1,973,000,000 at the end of Q2 of 2022. Inventory at the end of Q3 reached $685.9 million from $657.1 million in the prior quarter. The increase was the result of the ongoing supply chain constraints. For the third quarter of 2022, net cash generated from operating activities was $7.5 million, which compares to $230.4 million in Q3 of 2021. This lower quarterly operating cash flow mainly reflects the changes in the operating results and in working capital. During the third quarter, we completed the acquisition of Curiosity Diagnostics, for a total consideration of up to $170 million, consisting of approximately $100 million in cash and up to $70 million in future milestones. During the third quarter, we did not purchase any shares of our stock. The adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2022 was $132.3 million, or 19.4% of sales. The adjusted EBITDA in Q3 of 2021 was $165.1 million, or 23.1% of sales. Net capital expenditures for the third quarter of 2022 were $24.1 million, and depreciation and amortization was $32.7 million. Moving on to the non-GET guidance. Taking into account the strong customer demand, we maintain the full year currency neutral revenue growth outlook to be at the high end of our guidance range of 1 to 2%. Based on the stronger than anticipated COVID sales contribution year to date, we now assume full year COVID related sales of about $105 million. Core revenue growth, which excludes COVID-related sales and the prior year legal settlement for bank royalties, is now expected to be about 8%. We anticipate full year core growth for the life science group to be about 15% and the diagnostics group to be approximately 3%. As a result of the ongoing supply chain constraints, We now anticipate a full year gross margin projection to be about 57% versus our prior guidance of 57.5%. Operating income margin guidance remains at about 19% as we manage our operating expense plan for the remainder of this year. We now project an adjusted EBITDA at the low end of our prior guidance range of 24 and 24.3%. We continue to execute on our overall capital allocation model, which includes 13 acquisitions, such as Curiosity, and we will continue to be opportunistic with share buybacks. I'll now turn over the call to Norman to make a few comments regarding our capital allocation strategy. Norman?

Thanks, Elon. I thought it'd be useful to take a few minutes to address the recent rumors of a potential transaction with one of our peers. So while I'm not going to comment on this speculation, I do think it would be helpful to reinforce our thinking around capital deployment in general. You know, our primary focus, as we stated a number of times, is investing in the organic growth strategy. Most recently communicated our investor day in the first quarter of this year. In this regard, we have solid R&D investment levels in the 9% to 10% range. And we are also investing to improve our channel reach and capabilities to allow us to grow in our key targeted market. Additionally, we have multiple initiatives in process focused on building our systems and operational capabilities to support this growth. The next area of investment for us is, of course, inorganic opportunities. Acquiring new products or technologies will further our strategy and, at the end of the day, make us more valuable to our customers. Over the last several years, we have been smaller or medium-sized acquisitions, which over time have contributed to about one-third of our growth, if you look back. In all cases, we've given careful consideration to their strategic, financial, and operational fit. You know, it's clear to... clear that we've made a lot of operational progress in recent years. And we now feel we could acquire and absorb a larger and more transformational opportunity if it met our strategic and financial metrics. And the third capital deployment avenue for us is buying back our own shares. Even though we did not buy anything back in this last quarter, we have been active here over the last few years. And today, we have about $300 million authorized by the board for this purpose. I think the point is that we see all three of these as important elements of an overall capital allocation strategy. So that really concludes our prepared remarks today, and we'll now open up the line to take your questions. Donyell?

Certainly. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you would like to remove that question, please press star followed by two. Again, to ask a question, please press star one. As a reminder, if you're using a speaker phone, Please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question. We will pause here briefly as questions are registered. The first question comes from Patrick Donnelly of Citi. Please proceed.

Hey guys, thank you for taking the questions. Norman, maybe I can just follow up on the capital allocation commentary there. You know, helpful perspective, I appreciate that. Maybe just given kind of that three-pronged approach We can dive in a little bit. In terms of the larger deals, I guess you've always kind of framed those as opportunistic, few and far between. I guess how do you see the pipeline currently? And then how do you think about the Sartoria stake in terms of using that for a deal versus the strategic value of it, holding it as we kind of look at the landscape here?

Yeah, so I don't think the landscape has changed markedly in the last several months. It's still about the same as we've always said. It's the few and far between. But we do continue to kind of look at what might be possible. Certainly when we think of all of that, we still see Sartorius is very strategic. And as you know, there's still five or six years left on the trust. So we've got a little bit of time to wait on that.

And I guess when you think about a deal, you know, in terms of if you didn't use Sartorius, you went after a large acquisition. I know you said in the past you would be willing to use some equity. I guess here, kind of below $400, Is there more of a kind of lack of interest in kind of issuing a lot of equity with shares at this valuation? How do you think about that piece?

Well, I think it certainly depends on what the opportunity is. And, you know, I think we have to look at it holistically. You know, we've got obviously three elements that we can think about. We've got cash on the balance sheet. We've got debt capacity. And then, you know, I would say we are comfortable with some economic dilution, you know, using equity. But obviously, we're going to be careful and prudent with all of that.

Okay, that's helpful. So, yeah, moving on from the capital allocation side. Alam, maybe on the kind of near term here, just looking at the gross margin piece, can you just talk about, I guess, the – The headwinds you saw there, it seems like logistics, some raw materials. Can you just talk about, I guess, the visibility into the improvement there for 4Q? Obviously, you adjusted the guidance a little bit, but just maybe the moving pieces there and how we should think about that as we get into 4Q and then even to 23.

Sure. Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate the question. Yeah, so when we look at the third quarter, definitely logistics. was a headwind and way above our normalized kind of level of spend, but it was kind of interrelated somewhat also to the supply chain constraints. So there were still, you know, constraints in terms of specifically electronic components, as Andy mentioned in the prepared remarks, and there was also some, you know, mix within kind of the revenue itself. On a positive note, our manufacturing cost in terms of the effects was a little bit of a tailwind in terms of the overall cost there. As Andy mentioned earlier, we see an improvement, and our guidance also bakes in a nice improvement in terms of the overall supply chain, and we do see an increased volume that is being manufactured constantly and incrementally. So that also will benefit the logistics cost overall. And we are very encouraged because the overall order backlog is still nice, although it's going down, but customers are still holding up. Logistics cost part of it, for example, was expedited shipments because customers do come first for us. So obviously, you know, when it comes to the fourth quarter, we can see that the order backlog is still, you know, a nice size, although it's going down with, you know, the higher volume that we're able to manufacture.

Okay. That's helpful. And just one last one just on the 4Q guide. You know, even with you guys kind of bringing the non-COVID core down slightly, it's still implying, you know, pretty healthy uptick there on 4Q. I think into the teens even in terms of that growth. So is that just all supply chain easing and kind of working through that backlog? Can you just frame, I guess, the visibility into the supply chain easing? Is it something you're already seeing? And then how much of that backlog can you kind of work down, convert, and fork you to kind of hit some of those numbers?

Yeah, Patrick, it's Andy. So, yeah, I think we mentioned the script that we're already seeing it easing. We were more constrained at the beginning of the quarter than as we came out of the quarter. Now, entering into Q4, we see our production improving. I think that our expectation right now is we will meaningfully work down a significant piece of our backlog as we get to the end of the year. We still expect to have some backlog. as we move into the first quarter of next year. But we do expect improvement, and we do have the visibility on the production at this point in time.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from Patrick Donnelly. My apologies. But the next question comes from Brandon Couillard. of Jefferies. Please proceed.

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon. Maybe a question for Simon. You did mention DDPCR is one of the standout growth drivers in the press release. Curious if you've seen any deceleration of growth in that category. Was there perhaps some customers waiting for the QX600 launch? And if you could just talk about the the types of customers or markets that that platform will open up would be helpful.

Yeah, thanks for the question, Brandon. We definitely had a few customers, I'd say, waiting for the launch of QX600. I'd say the quarter overall was a bit of a mixed bag for the franchise. We've heard already on the call that the supply chain challenges was a headwind in the third quarter. and particularly with instrument platforms. And I think in DDPCR, we felt that a little more prominently than some of the other product lines. At the same time, as we've heard already, demand remains strong across multiple application segments. And we're very happy with the launch of the QX600 and the initial pipeline that we're building and seeing for that. So I think in the quarter as a whole, the puts and takes kind of netted out. across multiple market segments. And as we enter Q4, we're tentatively confident of a rebound.

Got you. And then they went for a line in terms of just back on the gross margins in the third quarter. Anybody quantify the logistics and freight and other items in terms of the year-over-year impact on gross margins in the quarter?

Sure. You know, logistics was by far the highest kind of headwind. And, you know, the offset was somewhat, you know, the foreign exchange benefit throughout the global manufacturing footprint cost. And mix was, you know, probably the third kind of thing. But in terms of order of magnitude, logistics was first.

Got you. Any tips you can share with what that pricing realization was in the third quarter? You mentioned some of that has been the big capture is not quite what you put through in terms of the list price increases. Should we expect that to step up materially in the fourth quarter into the magnitude?

Hey, yeah, this is Andy. So, you know, we have modest price realization through, you know, through year to date, but clearly not sufficient to overcome all of the inflationary costs here, especially since we have quite a backlog and below that backlog has been carried for a while now, so kind of pre-price increases. And so as our backlog unwinds, we do expect to capture more of what we've put into our price increases. And so we are hopeful that Q4 will see some improvement as we roll in through the quarter.

Great. Lastly, just on the curiosity diagnostic acquisition in the quarter, is there any revenue associated with that business? If not, can you talk about the commercial timelines and maybe just the competitive differentiation of the multiplex platform versus others that are on the market?

Sure, thanks, Brandon. This is Dara. So the platform is pre-commercial, so it's a technology acquisition. So there's still quite a bit of work to do to complete the assay development pipeline and clinical trials. It will be going into regulated markets. So we don't anticipate any material contribution next year. I think it will be sort of beyond the 2023 timeline as we roll through that development investment. So at a high level, it's a rapid, multiclet, sampled answer, PCR platform, and we'll be targeting initially syndromic infectious disease applications. There are quite a number of features inherent in their approach that are differentiated versus other offerings, and we also think it will help us extend into additional market segments not currently served by existing syndromic test platforms today. So looking forward to sharing more about that as time marches on in 2023. Thank you.

Thank you, Brenda. Thank you. The next question comes from Dan Leonard of Credit Suisse.

Please proceed.

Hello. Thank you for taking the question. I have a couple. The first one on the supply chain challenges, they influencing at all your win rate in digital pcr or any other market categories or do you feel like you're still winning your um your entitlement and just absorbing the products in backlog i i think we would say that we're mostly absorbing this in backlog uh you know it's hard to claim that there's not a few losses here and there i think

There are, inevitably, especially on the more commoditized product areas. But, you know, the size of our backlog has kind of built through the year and now we're working it down. So we've been very supported by basically customer loyalty to our product offerings and, you know, so that's, you know, a little bit to our elevated logistics costs in Q3, because we were really expediting shipments to them, so a lot more air freight in Q3 if this product did come off the production line. So, yeah, that's essentially, I think, how we see it right now.

Understood. And then just a couple follow-up on capital deployment. Alon, does that uncertainty that Bio-Rad might be deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act, I guess two questions. Has that been resolved? And then secondly, if it hasn't, does that have any impact on your ability to finance an acquisition?

Ben, thanks for the question. So, we have never perceived ourselves as an investment company. And this is still the case. And this is not any showstopper for any potential acquisition or any target or any aspect of the capital allocation, whether it's debt or issuance of capital or equity that is blocking us from pursuing any opportunity.

Thanks for that clarification. And possibly you can comment on why you didn't repurchase any shares in the quarter.

We are trying to be as much as we can opportunistic, coupled with the overall capital allocation thinking. As you can see, the market is not going maybe on the right direction, but definitely we have still about $300 million left on the plan, and we'll continue to pursue the same kind of approach. And historically, if you recall, we had similar situations that market was down and we were not in the market. And usually when we step in, we step in with larger chunks and in specific quarters. So we will just continue to pursue the same opportunistic approach that we adopted in the past.

Understood. Thank you. Thank you. And the next question comes from Jack Meehan of Nifron Research.

Please proceed.

Thank you. Good afternoon. I wanted to start on capital allocation. Norman, just given the talk of a large deal, one of the top questions I've gotten from investors is succession planning at Bio-Rad. I personally really enjoy working with you, so I hope it's not soon, but is there any color you can just share with the investment community on long-term leadership plan for BioRad? And if you were to do a deal that led to a much larger organization, just how would you structure a leader leadership team to manage that?

Yeah, well, okay. So, so first I think I've still got a few more years in me. So, uh, so that's, that's number one. Um, We do work on succession planning internally and have, I think, some good ideas around that. I think that in terms of structuring something, I think it really depends largely on what it is. We have to evaluate how it fits, how it needs to be managed, You know, over the last several years, of course, we've evolved into this kind of more, what would I call it, a more functional organization. And that's allowed us to do a number of things and make a lot of progress. And again, I think it's time and situation dependent. You know, would we stay with that organization? Would we move to another kind of organization? Again, I think it's really all facts and circumstances.

Got it. And then on the business, Elon or Andy, can you talk about like when you look at the backlog, just median time to deliver versus a normal period? Or is there a way to quantify how much larger sales would have been in the quarter if the supply chain issues didn't persist. I just look at the inventory, and we're talking about tens of millions of dollars a bill. Just any level of context would be helpful.

Yeah, it's a tough one to answer. It's predominantly interim platforms, as we've indicated, electronic components. And in some cases, An average is really meaningless in this regard because there's a very broad range of time associated with some of those backlogs and for particular customers. So, you know, it can be six weeks, it can be, you know, a few, several months. And, you know, as the years progress, that has built and we've built inventory, as you can see, reflective of our demands. waiting on those final components which procurement is spending a lot of time on chasing. I don't think it's probably appropriate to put forth what Q3 might have been because that's probably not the right kind of metric to be focused on because we're rolling into Q4 at this point in time.

Yeah, and, Jack, what I can say, you know, I can confirm that it was definitely much higher than the order backlog that rolled over from last year to this year, so at the end of last year. You know, another indication that you can look at is, you know, the higher inventory level that now we carry in the balance sheet. And the increment, you know, a lot of it is in raw material. So, you know, when it translates into revenue, so you get kind of an order magnitude thereof. of the opportunity, you can call it.

Got it. And then just the last one, Elon, you mentioned the Russia business. I forget if it was you or Andy. Can you just remind us the size of the business for BioRad and how that's performed this year? Is there a risk that you might be barred from selling to the country? Just how do you manage that?

Yeah, I mean, we have a team focused on deciphering and executing against this myriad of sanctions that come at us. More of the business in Russia for us is clinical than life science. It's between 1% to 2% of sales. It fluctuates a bit on a typical year, and it is down a bit this year, as you might expect. more so on the life science side than on the clinical side. And we literally have a team that's focused on just interpreting every single sanction and whether it impacts us or not and can we load this truck as expected or not. And it's not getting better and it's difficult to know what it really will look like by the end of this year and moving into next year.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Jeff.

Thank you. There are currently no additional questions registered at this time. So as a reminder, it is star 1 on your telephone keypad to ask a question. We have a follow-up question from Brandon Coolyard of Jefferies. Please proceed.

Hey, thanks for squeezing me in. Alon, you said you'd quantify the interest income in the third quarter, and then, you know, as we look at kind of $2 billion of cash on the balance sheet and move up in rates, can you just talk about your cash, your capital allocation, and, you know, what would be a reasonable interest income rate to assume on that cash position to look out into next year?

Sure. Thank you, Brandon. Obviously, when we raised the last debt, the bond, with probably a great timing. Today, the 10-year treasury is above the coupon that we pay. It takes time to catch up. Specifically, if you think about the bonds, it was about $11 million of an expense for the quarter, and this specific quarter was about $8 million of of interest income, but it continues to catch up as, you know, as we continue to roll, you know, the investments. So it should get, you know, within the next one to two quarters, assuming that these interest rates will continue to be out there, at least into kind of parity between the two, could also be kind of moving into a gain there. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have another follow-up question from Jack Meehan of Nefron Research. Please proceed.

Thanks. I'm back. So a couple of more business questions. Process media, not sure if I missed in the script, but just can you give a magnitude of the growth in the quarter and one top of discussion this earnings season has been stocking dynamics with customers. Are you seeing any of that? Any color on inventory trends of customers would be helpful.

Yeah, this is Simon. We saw high single-digit growth in process chromatography in the quarter, and we've been very conscious of the commentary elsewhere on stocking patterns. In our franchise, we haven't really been subject to supply chain challenges, and we've been able to assure our customers that we'll be delivering in a prompt fashion. So we really haven't seen any noticeable change in ordering pattern or stocking from our customers, but we continue to watch it very closely, of course.

Great. And then on the diagnostic side, the two businesses that weren't called out, diabetes and autoimmune. Can you just talk about how they performed in the quarter, if they declined, like what might have been contributing to that?

Yeah, the main sort of headwinds there were just supply chain-related instrument placements. Those are both closed systems. Consumables across the board continue to post good growth. It was really an artifact of inability to fulfill instruments.

Got it. And then last one is on the China region and diagnostics. I know it sounds like in the past you've managed through the lockdowns decently, but just talk about how the region performed. Any impact?

Sure. Very similar to sort of the conversation that we had last quarter in that the There are two dynamics. The most material one is the larger supply constraint dynamic, given the inability to fulfill instrumentation into China. And then second was the periodic lockdowns, which have an impact on routine testing, as well as an impact on logistics flow, just getting materials into the region. At a high level, though, you know, demand remains strong. And if we look at sort of the core clinical testing growth, it is the demand is very much in line with pre-pandemic levels. The challenges really are these sort of circuit breaker events that just make the flow less than smooth over the last few quarters, as well as the supply constraint headwinds that we're working through.

Great. Thank you. Thank you.

There are currently no additional questions registered at this time, so I'll pass the conference back over to the management team for closing remarks.

Thank you for joining today's call. We will be participating at the upcoming Credit Suisse 31st Annual Healthcare Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California in November and hope to see some of you there. And as always, we appreciate your interest and we look forward to connecting soon.

That concludes the conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.