Emergent BioSolutions Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm the operator for today's call. Thank you for joining today as Emergent discusses their operation and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year. As is customary, today's call is open to all participants, and the call is being recorded and is copyrighted by Emergent BioSolutions. In addition to today's press release, there is a series of slides accompanying this webcast available to all webcast participants. Turning to slide three. During today's call, Emergent may make projections and other forward-looking statements related to their business, future events, their prospects, or future performance. These forward-looking statements are based on their current intentions, beliefs, and expectations regarding future events. Any forward-looking statement speakers only as today of this conference call and as today's Expected by, required by law, Emergent does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement to reflect new information, events, or circumstances. Investors should consider this cautionary statement as well as risk factors identified in Emergent's periodic reports filed with the SEC when evaluating their forward-looking statements. During today's call, Emergent may also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures that involve adjustments to gap figures in order to provide greater transparency regarding emergence operating performance. Please refer to the table found in today's press release. Turning to slide four, the agenda for today's call will include Joe Papa, President and Chief Executive Officer, who will comment on our focus and priorities. Paul Williams, SVP and Head of the Products Business, will provide comments on NARCON, nasal spray, and finally, Rich Lindahl, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, who will speak to the current state of the company and financials for fourth quarter and full year and guidance for full year 2024. This will be followed by a Q&A. Finally, and for the benefit of those who may be listening to the replay of this webcast, this call was held and recorded on March 6th to 6th, 2024. Since then, Emergent may have made announcements related to topics discussed during today's call. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Rich Lindell for opening remarks. Rich?

Thank you, Jonathan. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us tonight. Before we get into our results for the fourth quarter and full year, I'd like to take a moment to introduce our new President and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Papa, who joined us a few weeks ago. We are thrilled to have him on our team and look forward to benefiting from his over 35 years of experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, along with his proven record as a transformational leader. Let me turn it over to Joe to say a few words.

Thank you, Rich, for the warm welcome. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm delighted to join the team in further emergent mission of protecting and enhancing the lives of patients. A lot of people have asked me what drew me to Emergent. That's easy. I've always been driven by the ability of pharma to save lives, and Emergent plays a unique and critical role in addressing public health crisis. As the leading biodefense contractor, we're addressing the most pressing and urgent threats Like the opioid epidemic, where data tells every six minutes an American dies from an opioid overdose. To anthrax, the number one bacterial infectious threat. To smallpox, the number one viral threat. To botulism, the most lethal biologic toxin. Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever. in chemical threats like nerve gas that have implications to our service men and women. Emergent has capabilities not many can match, or in other words, we have a significant moat around our business. Also, the near-term challenges that Emergent has been facing, notably our debt, have impacted our ability to achieve our full potential. I'm eager to work with the team and tackle these challenges head-on. Based on my three decades of experience in the industry and now knowing the determination of the Emergent board and the leadership team, I believe we can successfully navigate through these issues that Emergent faces today. I'd like to bring your attention to slide number six of our presentation. While I am only two weeks into my CEO role, we will move forward with a multi-year plan to stabilize, turn around, and then transform our company. Of course, a business transformation isn't going to happen overnight. The first phase, stabilizing Emergent, we expect will take us three to six months and will focus on continuing to build credibility with our key stakeholders, including employees, customers, government regulators, shareholders, and debt holders. For example, that means looking to strengthen the engagement of all of our employees and focusing on our exciting mission to protect, enhance, and help save lives. Also, it is clear we must de-risk our balance sheet and reduce our debt now. In that regard, today, we announce that we've entered into a forbearance agreement through April 30th of 2024 with our lenders. Rich will take us through this in more detail later on. The next phase, our turnaround, will begin in 2024 and will span into 2025. We'll focus on key growth opportunities and investments that will drive profitable growth by improving our operating performance, reduce our working capital, and may include product and or asset divestitures. We expect these actions will be critical in our efforts to reduce our debt and to de-risk our balance sheet. Our final phase, transformation, is planned for 2026 and beyond. We'll focus on strategically transforming emerging to achieve durable and sustainable growth and profitability. I also want to note an important driver of Mergent's path and future success is quality and compliance. Quality and compliance are key value drives for Mergent and will remain a top priority. Our products are relied upon to save lives in a time of crisis. Our patients and customers depend on us. We must continue to provide the highest quality products to ensure that customers, government agencies, and patients have confidence in us as a trusted partner. In 2023, emergent manufacturing facilities have been successfully inspected by five regulatory agents from around the globe and five other inspectional bodies for a total of 18 inspections, including three by the FDA that result in either an NAI status or VAI status. This includes the successful closeout of the Baltimore-Kansan Warning Letter in just 14 months. That's very significant. Truly remarkable accomplishments by the emergent team, the leadership team, their teams, and the broader organization. To this end, over my first two weeks, I've had the pleasure of meeting many of the talented and dedicated employees that work at Emergent and will continue to visit more Emergent facilities in the coming weeks. The commitment to the mission and values are so clear in each and every employee that I've met with. I look forward to visiting with more sites in the next few weeks and speaking directly with our team members. I'm confident that team insights will enhance how we deliver value to our customers, partners, patients, and shareholders. I'm going to take that feedback from the team, setting clear goals that we can line around together as an organization, and that's what's going to drive the results. It's a privilege to lead Emergent and chart a new chapter in this vital space, whether it's increasing access to Narcan nasal spray to help combat the opioid epidemic or continue to deliver important medical countermeasures to customers around the world. Emergent is providing critical products to address global health crisis in an increasingly dangerous world. I'm confident that these important treatments provide for a bright future, and I look forward to advancing the company's progress, improving its financial position, and driving value for shareholders. Given my two-week tenure at the company, Rich will provide an overview of the quarter. Before that, I'll turn it over to Paul to discuss Narcan nasal spray, our largest product, and representative of the important work Emergent does for patients. families, and communities, and will no doubt be an important value driver to the company going forward. So, Paul, we turn to you.