CellaVision AB (publ)

Thank you very much. So I'm Simon Oestergaard, President and CEO of Cellevision, and I have Magnus Blixt, our CFO, with me today. We appreciate you listening in in this summer season to hear about our Q2 results that we are halfway through 2024 results. So we're pleased to share the outcome. Let's just jump right into it. So what we call the quarter in brief. Yeah, we landed the quarter at 11% growth. So organically, that was 10%. So hardly any FX impact on our results of 188 million in revenues. The EBITDA for the quarter, we landed at 60 million EBITDA. corresponding to 32% so just over our financial ambition of having 30 or more percent in EBITDA and I'd say the highlights if we talk about the the the quarter here and there was stability however with some fluctuations and Top level, I would say we were very pleased to what we've seen in APAC across multiple countries. We see consistent performance out of EMEA. So that is positive. And then we saw this quarter somewhat of a temporary slowdown in Americas. In terms of progressing on our strategic direction, our strategic pillars, here we highlight that we have successfully concluded on the internal clinical preclinical studies for our bone marrow applications so that we are now sort of ready to entertain the external clinical validation throughout autumn so that is an exciting place to be we have spent a lot of calories and efforts in interacting with new sysmex colleagues across the regional organizations to implement and really adopt the strategic alliance agreement that we closed and signed with sysmex in the beginning of february this year All right. But let me unpack the numbers a little bit more. I know this is a busy format, but nevertheless, very informative. And here we have all the compares we want. So talk about the drop line. So on the very left hand side, that's the new numbers we report today. And then in the middle column, we have the year to date for the year. So we are now at 188 million for this quarter, which brings us to 358 million this half year. So that represents an organic growth of 16% year to date. Gross margin, we are still also this quarter reporting 66%. That's a little bit sort of low given both levers around product mix. We also have had throughout the year increased material and product costs. However, we have not a significant effect on the price increases that we implement this year. So we should see them influence our gross margin when we get to Q3. Operating expenses. We have spent 75 million versus 73 in the comparable quarter last year. So I think we've been very successful in maintaining our cost base and sales despite some inflation increases. That is due to some restructuring we did in autumn last year. the full impact of that. On the admin, we are also pretty much in control, increasing a little bit. We're spending, we're building a muscle for some of the regulatory requirements. So here we are spending a little bit more on consultants to be prepared and built, support our business. On R&D, it goes a little bit down. We are capitalizing a little bit more from 14 to this quarter, 16 million. So that is really a sign of the maturity in our development programs. So that's good to see. I mentioned the EBITDA of 60 million, which translated into 32%. So despite the somewhat little lower gross margin still, we have a healthy EBITDA margin of 32%. And cash flow wise, We had a cash flow before adjustment for working capital of 54. So given the overarching, a good quarter, a solid quarter as we say. However, given the growth we have, then we have some outstanding accounts receivable and that brings our operating cash flow down to 40 million. And then if we deduct the investment activities, especially capitalized R&D of 16 million, but also on the financial activities that influences the cash flow, then we have both dividends payout of 54 million and we also have the amortization and leasing of around 11 million. So that brings us down to a total cash flow of negative 44 million. So that's sort of the brief run-through of the P&L. Let's try and just give a little bit of regional highlights. So as I said, on the top line side, A little bit low or soft on the Americas, and that is primarily on the large instrument side. So here we did have some, we noticed that there were some operational matters that actually impacted the installation pace. So there has been a little bit of a drag in Americas this quarter. We don't believe it's systemic with regards to market demand. we have seen continued interest and double-digit growth in our small instruments. And that is actually an interest that goes across the entire Americas. So that's still super promising and really, really emphasizes the opportunities we have to serve the ITN networks in that part of the world, but also in South America, in fact. Looking at EMEA, Sales increased to 83 million versus 76. Again, a quarter where we see growth in Americas. So that is promising. 10% growth in this quarter and 15% year over year. I think here it's really also good to see how we have started to work and establish joint action plans across the multiple markets. getting a better understanding and how we support it, also how we leverage our system and our materials to really convert and adopt digital cell morphology across this region. We also have very, very positive feedback from our participation at the ISLH show in Nantes, in France, in May. So that was rewarding and also very motivating for us to giving the first-hand customer feedback also on some of the innovation pieces we're working on. In APAC, it's pretty much a record high, so 198% growth, 37 million versus 13. I think that's obviously a very high growth number. Again, it fluctuates quite a bit also in that region because we're very dependent on when we ship to that part of the world where we sometimes ship quite a lot of instruments and sometimes there is hardly any for certain jurisdictions. What I'm very pleased about with this number is actually that it's spread across multiple jurisdictions. So it's really, we're seeing we're coming back on track in Japan. We've been suffering We pretty much had a year with with inventory sort of issues in Japan, but we are out of the woods. So there's a healthy demand from from from Japan, also from China again. And we actually also starting to see really, really interesting things happening in Australia. And so it is not just a high revenue number, but it's also a very positive outlook, also given the more collaborative approach that we are starting to implement with our distribution partners across that region. If we slide the numbers per product group, as you see here, So again, 16% growth on the instrument side taken together, so 107 million. And that is really a significant increase from the comparable, if we take the six month period, 199 million versus 158. So that's a healthy number. And again, I really, RAC instrument sales and APEC, as I just alluded to, but also I would highlight here the DIF line, which is our smear box, the stain box and the DC one that goes for the small laboratory segment that is starting to get a lot of traction and attention in Canada and Latin America. So here we are. We're really working on getting ready for that and having the registrations there. But the pre-marketing and the conversations with the labs are ongoing and that seems to really resonate. the value proposition of this diff line really resonates with the labs in those markets. On the reagent side, 1%, it's a bit soft at face value. So it's definitely lower than when we take quarter by quarter than usual. I think here, Actually, our full year, or year-to-date, sorry, our year-to-date number of 10% really demonstrates that we had a strong Q1. So there's a little bit of facing here. And then I also want to say that our compare here is actually relatively high when we talk about growth, because we also had some production issues, which means that in last year, which meant that we shipped quite a bit in the Q2. So the compare is also a little bit tough against us in this very quarter. Still momentum across the business. We are really pushing out the reagent, especially hematology reagents that where we see growth across EMEA. So we are really, starting to also get the benefits of the capacity expansion that we implemented with the new factory completing at the end of the last calendar year. On the software side, we increased a few millions to 44 million versus the compare. And here I think the highlight is definitely that we are starting to see not only the EMEA growth in general, but the software sales is picking up. It's really good. It is a sign of them also adopting our remote review. So that is very healthy. Yeah, I think that is probably the relevant comment for that. So I had to sort of summarize the key takeaways for what we define as a solid quarter. Of course, in this business, it's not a consumable business. Then we do have some soft things here that we actually don't believe are systemic. But we definitely saw the appetite and the orders coming from APAC as a highlight. And as a soft light, we saw a little bit on the installation pace in Americas that we believe will be recovered. Again, very to see the software in EMEA. Good progress today. I chose to report a little bit on the bone marrow as just to follow through, given our previous communication that we expect to commercialize our bone marrow module during 2025. That is the plan we are pursuing. And then again, really collaborative efforts with Sysmex in particular are really progressing and I really highly appreciate the way we've started to work at multiple levels within the organizations. So that gives also a very energizing impact within our organization here at Cellevision. And with that, I will open for questions.

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key 6 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Ulrich Trattner from Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. A few. Perhaps you could start off with Americas and the things that you are seeing as temporarily declining. And you talk about operational matters impacting installation. If you can allude a little bit more to that and if there is any chance of that sort of picking up in Q3 that is lagging or what these operational matters include? That would be my first question, please.

Yeah. No, thanks, Ulrich. I totally get the question. And this is where I should probably not overstep the situation in elaborating on things that are happening with our partners. But it is operational matters where we were probably expected a little bit more on the large instrument side in terms of orders. And given some focus on actually getting all hands on deck and installing what they had, then they didn't expand the order pattern in that. So the actual operational matters is not related to activities within Sellevision, but it's really on the partnering side. So it is a little bit tricky for me to elaborate on that and just guess here. So I will leave it for our partners to be open on whatever challenges that may be. But we get the full impression that is a temporary piece. And I think we also signal in our report that we actually believe it's over and out by now. But we have been impacted. So I'm sorry I can't give the fully fledged internal insights on this one.

Fair enough. If we were to switch markets and APAC, it looks like a blowout quarter. Instruments growing four and a half times year over year. It would be a two-part question. You talk about broad-based growth out of Japan, Australia, and even China. The first question would be, are you seeing any material impact on the competition side from MindRay? Secondly, as we have seen historically, is there any risk of inventory being built up here in in q2 and we should expect this trend to potentially not continue into the second half or or how should we interpretate this sort of very very strong sales number yeah no i think it's it's it's it's definitely positive on if we start with with japan

It's very positive since we've been impacted. We know that there has been inventory levels. They've now been consumed, which demonstrates the demand. And we also know that there are some relatively big labs in Japan who are really digitalizing and replacing lines. So I think Japan, it's really true consumption. I wouldn't look at that as a potential inventory matter. For China, I think it's extremely healthy that we, quarter after quarter, have seen shipments going to China. That has really lifted our APAC numbers over the last remaining quarters. And here, we also see it as a sign of demand. Of course, the market is also dominated on the cell counting side with a mind rate. But there's a healthy, you know, there's definitely placements out there. The tricky thing is from our chair and even our partner Sysmex, it's very difficult to look at the layer of distributors that are actually meeting hospitals because that's not the manufacturing vendors who's doing that. So, of course, there can be some inventory. But since we've seen this supply of instruments consistently, then I truly believe that we are we are doing a pretty good job out there together with special systems for a pack. Sorry for Australia. And I think that's a promising jurisdiction. There are really an appetite to digitalize labs and it resembles the Canadian markets where we know that our value proposition is attractive. And that's actually what we start to see. So we find the Australian and also small instruments going to Australia as a super, super interesting and really supporting our ecosystem adoption. So that would be the highlight from APAC, Ulrich.

Great. And switching to Emiya, the first would be if you're experiencing, as we have seen for a lot of other companies in the diagnostic space and general CapEx space limitation around markets resetting post-pandemic and sort of budget restrictions as well as, I also note, software revenue is increasing in EMEA and you touched upon this. And would you call sort of software adoption more tilted towards certain countries or a general trend in Europe to go more in the direction where US has been developing for the last few years?

That's a good point, Ulrike. I think also... I think that is probably also a function of we're starting to see DC1s. We've seen a consistent flow of DC1s, but the fraction of connected labs across Europe is a little bit less than the US. However, there are still significant amount of labs where they really benefit from the remote review. So I think that is part of the explanation, that they really tie together the DC-1 with the large instruments. I totally hear you in terms of there could be some reservation on the budgeting side for healthcare if you look sort of high level. But we must say that that pressure is when we also read and we listen to the community, then that is probably the situation. We have actually for a couple of quarters now seen sort of okay growth on our side. So if we just come down to our operational level, we're actually seeing traction, which is a healthy thing. So we are also trying to interpret what happens macro and what is the time delay between anything on the budgeting challenges and the healthcare system. How does that translate in with the timing of tenders and so forth towards our businesses? But right now, in our little world, it's actually a really healthy confirmation of our value.

Great. And last question on my end would be on the gross margin. And you say quite clearly that you expect the gross margins to be more favored by the recent price increases heading into the second half of the year. Generally, and if I'm not mistaken, it usually comes into Q2, the effect of the price increases. And is there any reason for a delay in price effect on the gross margin? And secondly, you have increased your production capacity of RAL reagents. I'm guessing it's related to the build-out facility in Bordeaux. if there's something that can be done in terms of the gross margin of the reagent as well, or something that is impacted by these sort of recent investments?

Ives, good questions. And you demonstrate, you've been following us for quite some years, because you are right that typically we, or historically, we've certainly seen impact in Q2. There is a change. So we have, with a significant increase contract, there we have changed the timing of implementation of the pricing adjustments for Q2, which was previously Q1. So that is really the main, main driver for the situation here when we talk about pricing. And all orders that has been placed before Q2 is all prices, and then what we report here is actually the orders a significant part were placed before. So that is the reason why we have this phase change just this year. I don't believe there's a material impact coming from the new factory that translate into the gross margin on the related side. I think that would be my, I'm looking at Max's here and he's confirming my statement.

Could be some improvements coming later on, but it takes longer time before you see that in the gross margin. So those projects are ongoing, but it's a gradual improvement that will be seen in the coming quarters and years, I would say.

Just a clarification, but do you expect that there is opportunity to increase gross margins for reagents in the coming years, if we were to look medium term.

Yes, there is some opportunity to do gradual changes.

Definitely. But the question around the current state, that's not specifically on the rigs. That was my point. Yes, absolutely. But definitely, we're working on that agenda as well.

Great. That was all questions on my end. I'll get back to the queue. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Ulrik.

The next question comes from Ludvig Lundgren from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Hi, Simon and Magnus. So maybe continuing a bit on this last question from Aldrich. So maybe if you can elaborate a bit on the magnitude of these price hikes and what price effect we could expect here in Q3 than when the full effect is seen on sales and margin, gross margin.

Yeah, I think it's, so it isn't, so there's both components around product mix and And then there's the pricing I would highlight. So it's a mixed balance. I'd probably steer out of the specific quantitative component in your question because I think that would be borderline confidential as to how much we get from the price increases. But we are very certain that we will see a difference And then there's also a little bit of fluctuation quarter by quarter also on the depreciation of things. So that's another thing. And then the final thing I would comment upon is, of course, the FX piece, which sits in the gross margin as well. And Magnus, then you can comment whether I actually went around the circle here, whether I got everything influencing the gross margin.

No, I think you got it perfectly. And I think a valid comment would also be that the effect this year compared to last year is less visible. We had stronger price increases related to compensation for cost pricing increases last year. That's a very good point.

Yeah. So last year we were, I shouldn't say aggressive, but we were really compensating also from higher material cost prices. which have by the end of the day, so everything else being equal, they have been less, which has also translated us into us being less, let's say, pushy on increasing our prices because we also wanna remain competitive.

Got it, so then I, as I understand it, the gross margin is then more related to product mix than from actually the price or like cost of goods sold increases. in the recent two quarters?

It is definitely it is influenced by product mix definitely but I'd say it's not non-neglectable the price. We do expect a lift from that.

Okay great and then also in the report you mentioned the collaboration efforts with Sysmex in the quarter and I've seen Sysmex market the flying quite actively in multiple markets. Could you maybe elaborate a bit on this and maybe other efforts that I haven't seen?

yeah yeah a lot of it has you has has been you can say it internal that has not that is not exposed we expect us to be able to expose more and more things we do together and the market it will be visible for the market but we have really gotten on the sales side and and the way we work with the organization we're getting much more exposed at the country level not just at the regional you can almost say headquarter level but also at the country level so that we can work specifically on training plans and really pushing the digital cell morphology. We're looking at how to deploy our systems. So that could be both to train our colleagues in sales, the whole Sysmex organization, but it's, of course, also the end users. So how do we leverage our system, our e-learning platforms, and all our materials? So that is an exciting thing that goes on. Then we have exposure at conferences. In a week, we will be at the ADLM in Chicago. So that is always a very rewarding show, both to talk with partners, some in customers, And here we are also very close in the way we present and the way we work together on the booth, et cetera.

All right, thanks. And maybe continue a bit on this. So you state that the small laboratory instruments continue to show double-digit growth in Q2. Could you elaborate a bit on the sales share of large versus small instruments? sorry and so yeah the share this share of sales for small small versus large because I'm guessing now with large being down quite a bit year over year and small still growing it's becoming more of a significant share of sales yeah it is actually I think we haven't reported the split between small and large and

So I'll probably defer for that. And that's really just for competitive reasons. But we are continuing to see this double-digit growth of the small instruments. It's fueled in particular in what we see in Americas. But what is good is that we actually expect uptake in Canada. So when I said Americas, just before I alluded to North America, the U.S., but also in Canada and now the appetite for sort of a decent amount of DC1s going to, especially Brazil, is really, really taking off. And then we know there's an untapped potential also across EMEA. And this is why, this is for the small lab segment, pure field blood, but as I alluded to, remember the bone marrow, the specialty agenda that we are driving development-wise, They will be hosted by the DC1, and the prime market for that will be the large lab segment. So eventually, we really believe that there will be an uptake of DC1 also as we get into 2025 with bone marrow and 2026, we will see uptake of DC1 also in the large lab segment. So it's proven as a super, super staple and a very good unit because it doesn't take up a lot of bench space, and it really... endorses and enables us to build these ecosystem across labs.

All right, great. And the final one, if I may. So on the bone marrow, which you just mentioned, I saw that Scopio got their FDA clearance, I think, for their application. And maybe could you comment a bit, how does your product compare to theirs and Do you see that you have better synergies since you have a larger installed base of your instruments? Are they able to sell their applications to your instruments or do you have an advantage there?

First of all, I think on behalf of the patients, I congratulate Scopio for pushing the industry boundaries and getting the registration for Bowman. I actually think it's good. Then I think it's tricky for me to comment on our product until we actually have the registration because that's what we are chasing. Having said that, Not just to be biased, but I do believe we have a better workflow solution that we will come out with that. We will be able to cater for a broader perspective of slides going into the way and feeding into the workflow. Also with the remote review because of the installed base we have, because of the setup that we currently have. But I think it's still good that the de novo application for bone marrow was done by Scopio. So again, I congratulate them on that. That pushes the boundaries for how you can digitalize. But again, I remain to understand what is the adoption of their system, which is unknown to me.

All right, thanks. That's all questions for me. Thanks for taking my questions.

A pleasure.

Thanks a lot.

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Yeah, thank you very much. And again, thanks to all for taking the time to listen in on our Q1 and half-year results. Just a few reflections before we can all go on a bit of a, at least a very tiny vacation. Then I just want to emphasize that, of course, we are proud of what the team has accomplished with our partners. It's been a solid quarter. Of course, in this industry and with our business, there will always be a little bit of fluctuations that we are working on, both across quarters and regions and so forth. This is also what we see. Having said that, I'm very proud that we've started the year, the first half year, with very robust quarters, giving us an organic growth of 16%. And I also want to emphasize that the focus we've had in this quarter, not the least the last quarter, we closed the 15 years alliance agreement with Sysmex. And that has really endorsed and demonstrated a mutual relentless desire to connect and collaborate, which we've seen here in Q2. So a lot of traveling, a lot of meeting, a lot of interactions. A sincere thanks to all our involved parties. And then finally, our investments into innovation, it remains focused and super dedicated. We have a number of progressing projects, so that is exciting. We talked a little bit about the bone marrow here as an example, but we will certainly share more as we pave our way into the future. So with that, I just want to thank you all for dialing in, and I wish you a great summer. Looking forward to communicating with you guys in autumn. Thanks.