BioLife Solutions Inc (BLFS) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the BioLife Solutions Fourth Quarter 2022 and Full Year Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 BioLife Solutions 2022 年第四季度和全年收益電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Troy Wichterman, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給首席財務官 Troy Wichterman。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me on today's call is Mike Rice, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

謝謝你，運營商。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。與我一起出席今天電話會議的是董事長兼首席執行官邁克·賴斯 (Mike Rice)。

Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our preliminary unaudited financial results and operational highlights for the fourth quarter and full year 2022, which is available at biolifesolutions.com. As a reminder, during this call, we will make certain projections and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. For a detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that affect the company's business and that qualify as forward-looking statements, I refer you to our periodic reports and other public filings filed with the SEC.

今天早些時候，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了我們未經審計的初步財務業績和 2022 年第四季度和全年的運營重點，可在 biolifesolutions.com 上獲取。提醒一下，在本次電話會議期間，我們將對未來事件或公司未來的財務業績做出某些預測和其他前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際結果與預期存在重大差異。有關影響公司業務並構成前瞻性陳述的風險和不確定性的詳細討論，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期報告和其他公開文件。

Company projections and forward-looking statements are based on factors that are subject to change, and therefore, these statements speak only as of the date they are given. The company assumes no obligation to update any projections or forward-looking statements except as required by law.

公司預測和前瞻性陳述基於可能發生變化的因素，因此，這些陳述僅在給出之日有效。除非法律要求，否則公司不承擔更新任何預測或前瞻性陳述的義務。

During this call, we will speak to non-GAAP or adjusted results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP or adjusted financial metrics are included in the press release we issued this afternoon. These non-GAAP or adjusted financial metrics should not be viewed as an alternative to GAAP. However, in light of our historic M&A activity, we believe that the use of non-GAAP or adjusted metrics provides investors with a clearer view of our current financial results when compared to prior periods.

在這次電話會議中，我們將討論非 GAAP 或調整後的結果。 GAAP 與非 GAAP 或調整後的財務指標的對賬包含在我們今天下午發布的新聞稿中。這些非 GAAP 或調整後的財務指標不應被視為 GAAP 的替代品。然而，鑑於我們歷史上的併購活動，我們認為使用非 GAAP 或調整後的指標可以讓投資者更清楚地了解我們當前的財務業績。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Mike Rice, Chairman and CEO of BioLife Solutions.

現在我想把電話轉給 BioLife Solutions 的董事長兼首席執行官 Mike Rice。

Thanks, Troy, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. After my remarks, Troy will present our financials for Q4 and the full year 2022. After that, we'll be glad to take your questions.

謝謝，特洛伊，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們的電話。在我發言之後，特洛伊將介紹我們 2022 年第四季度和全年的財務狀況。之後，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

I'll start off by noting the strong performance our team delivered in Q4 to conclude 2022 with continued execution on our key initiatives of gaining new CGT and biopharma customers, driving continued adoption of our cell processing and storage and storage services platforms and making meaningful supply chain and quality improvements in our freezers platform.

首先，我要指出我們的團隊在 2022 年第四季度的出色表現，繼續執行我們獲得新的 CGT 和生物製藥客戶的關鍵舉措，推動我們的細胞處理和存儲以及存儲服務平台的持續採用，並提供有意義的供應我們冷凍平台的連鎖和質量改進。

Turning to Q4 revenue and customer highlights, while some of our peers in the life sciences tools space cited some segment headwinds, for the most part, we didn't experience any significant negative impact in the quarter. Total revenue was $44.3 million, up 21% from Q4 2021 with organic revenue growth of 18%. A key highlight of Q4 was cell processing platform revenue growth of 36%. Our growth catalysts and business fundamentals for our high-growth, high-margin recurring revenue streams remain intact. To make the point on revenue differentiation in Q4, about 60% of total revenue was recurring high margin with instruments comprising the rest. As a reminder, we expect this to increase to 70% or more by the end of 2025.

談到第四季度的收入和客戶亮點，雖然我們在生命科學工具領域的一些同行提到了一些細分市場的逆風，但在大多數情況下，我們在本季度沒有遇到任何重大的負面影響。總收入為 4430 萬美元，比 2021 年第四季度增長 21%，有機收入增長 18%。第 4 季度的一個重要亮點是細胞處理平台收入增長 36%。我們的高增長、高利潤經常性收入流的增長催化劑和業務基本面保持不變。為了說明第四季度的收入差異化，總收入的大約 60% 是經常性高利潤率，其餘部分是工具。提醒一下，我們預計到 2025 年底這一比例將增加到 70% 或更多。

In Q4, we sold and shipped products to provide services to 217 new unique customer sites across our 3 products and services platforms. Most of our revenue comes from existing customers as we penetrate deeper and pitch our integrated solutions to take more share of their spend for manufacturing, storage and distribution tools and services. In each of the 4 quarters of 2022, we gained about 200 new customer sites, building a phenomenal pipeline of early-stage customers that we will nurture and support to drive future growth.

在第 4 季度，我們通過 3 個產品和服務平台銷售和運送產品，為 217 個新的獨特客戶站點提供服務。我們的大部分收入來自現有客戶，因為我們深入了解並推銷我們的集成解決方案，以在他們的製造、存儲和分銷工具和服務支出中佔據更多份額。在 2022 年的四個季度中，我們每個季度都獲得了大約 200 個新客戶站點，建立了一個驚人的早期客戶管道，我們將培育和支持這些客戶以推動未來的增長。

I'll remind you now what our 3 platforms are: first, cell processing, which includes biopreservation media and section cell processing products; second is our freezers and thaw systems platform comprised of cryogenic liquid nitrogen freezers, Stirling ULT mechanical freezers and automated filling instruments; and finally, storage and storage services which includes SciSafe storage services and our evo cold chain management offering.

我現在提醒大家我們的三個平台是什麼：第一，細胞處理，包括生物保存培養基和切片細胞處理產品；二是我們的冷凍和解凍系統平台，由低溫液氮冷凍機、斯特林超低溫機械冷凍機和自動灌裝儀器組成；最後，存儲和存儲服務，包括 SciSafe 存儲服務和我們的 evo 冷鏈管理產品。

New Q4 customer sites by product line included 15 now using biopreservation media, 7 new ThawSTAR users, 12 new evo Cold Chain end users, 13 new cryogenic freezers and accessories customers, 139 new Stirling ULT freezer and accessory customers, 26 new Biostorage customers and 5 new cell processing customers now using Sexton products. For cell processes in Q4, we received confirmation that our solutions will be used in at least 27 additional clinical trials for new cell and gene therapies. We estimate that our biopreservation media products have been used in or are planned to be used in over 600 customer clinical applications.

按產品線劃分的第四季度新客戶站點包括 15 個現在使用生物保存介質、7 個新的 ThawSTAR 用戶、12 個新的 evo Cold Chain 最終用戶、13 個新的低溫冷凍機和配件客戶、139 個新的 Stirling ULT 冷凍機和配件客戶、26 個新的 Biostorage 客戶和 5 個新的細胞處理客戶現在使用 Sexton 產品。對於第四季度的細胞過程，我們收到確認，我們的解決方案將用於至少 27 項新細胞和基因療法的額外臨床試驗。我們估計我們的生物保存培養基產品已經用於或計劃用於 600 多個客戶臨床應用。

For biopreservation media, we also remain confident that each customer clinical application, if approved, would generate annual revenue in the range of $500,000 to $2 million. To date, BioLife products and solutions are being used in 12 approved therapies, which include use of our Sexton cell processing media and vials in 3 approved therapies, including Breyanzi from BMS, (inaudible), and Carteyva from JW Therapeutics.

對於生物保存介質，我們仍然相信，如果獲得批准，每個客戶的臨床應用將產生 50 萬至 200 萬美元的年收入。迄今為止，BioLife 產品和解決方案已用於 12 種獲批療法，其中包括在 3 種獲批療法中使用我們的 Sexton 細胞處理培養基和小瓶，包括 BMS 的 Breyanzi（聽不清）和 JW Therapeutics 的 Carteyva。

Note, all of these approved therapies also use our CryoStor biopreservation media. Our biopreservation media products are also embedded in at least 10 additional anticipated approvals by the end of 2024. I will conclude by saying that our biopreservation media clinical customer base includes most of the CAR T-cell developers, with our proprietary products embedded in the majority of the autologous and allogeneic platforms currently in development.

請注意，所有這些經批准的療法也使用我們的 CryoStor 生物保存培養基。到 2024 年底，我們的生物保存培養基產品還嵌入了至少 10 個額外的預期批准。我最後要說的是，我們的生物保存培養基臨床客戶群包括大多數 CAR T 細胞開發商，我們的專有產品嵌入了大多數目前正在開發的自體和同種異體平台。

We expect to be able to continue to take share from home-brew preservation cocktails as awareness grows of the critical role our engineered media formulations play in reducing risk for CGT companies. We see 5 strong catalysts that can support our growth estimates by increasing the total manufactured doses that our solutions are embedded in. These are approval of new cell and gene therapies, approvals of existing commercial therapies as first- or second-line treatment, approvals of existing commercial therapies for additional indications, approvals of existing commercial therapies in new geographies, and finally, an eventual shift to allogeneic therapies.

隨著人們越來越意識到我們的工程媒體配方在降低 CGT 公司風險方面的關鍵作用，我們希望能夠繼續從自製保存雞尾酒中獲得份額。我們看到 5 種強大的催化劑可以通過增加我們的解決方案所嵌入的總製造劑量來支持我們的增長估計。這些是新細胞和基因療法的批准，現有商業療法作為一線或二線治療的批准，批准其他適應症的現有商業療法，新地區現有商業療法的批准，以及最終轉向同種異體療法。

For the other part of our cell processing platform, our Sexton products, adoption and customer clinical applications include 67 using HPL Media, 61 using CellSeal vials and 2 using automated fill machines, you can see we're running our biopreservation media playbook to drive adoption of Sexton products.

對於我們細胞處理平台的其他部分，我們的 Sexton 產品、採用和客戶臨床應用包括 67 個使用 HPL 培養基、61 個使用 CellSeal 小瓶和 2 個使用自動灌裝機，您可以看到我們正在運行我們的生物保存培養基劇本以推動採用塞克斯頓產品。

We estimate that annual revenue for Sexton reagents and consumables used in approved customer therapies also ranges from $500,000 to $2 million for both CellSeal and HPL Media. Turning to our freezers and thaw systems platform. We shipped first-time orders to 159 new customer sites. Customers continue to see the value proposition of our Stirling ULT freezer offering based on tight temperature regulation, reduced power consumption, reduced heat generation and less noise pollution as these support their goal of reducing the negative environmental impact of their operations. And our final 3 revenue platforms, storage and storage services, which includes evo Cold Chain rentals and SciSafe storage services, we either shipped first-use products or engaged for initial services with 38 new customer sites in Q4, 26 for storage services and 12 for evo.

我們估計，CellSeal 和 HPL Media 用於批准的客戶療法的 Sexton 試劑和耗材的年收入也從 500,000 美元到 200 萬美元不等。轉向我們的冷凍機和解凍系統平台。我們向 159 個新客戶站點發送了首次訂單。客戶繼續看到我們的 Stirling ULT 冷凍機產品基於嚴格的溫度調節、降低功耗、減少熱量產生和減少噪音污染的價值主張，因為這些支持他們減少運營對環境的負面影響的目標。我們最後的 3 個收入平台，存儲和存儲服務，包括 evo Cold Chain 租賃和 SciSafe 存儲服務，我們在第四季度與 38 個新客戶站點一起運送了首次使用的產品或參與初始服務，其中 26 個用於存儲服務，12 個用於埃沃。

With our evo Cold Chain management platform, cell and gene therapy companies now have brought access to our class-defining offering through our expanded specialty courier partner network that now includes CSafe, World Courier, Quick International, Thermo Fisher, Marken and Biocair. We believe we can continue to drive our evo platform to become a meaningful revenue and profit contributor. Q4 evo shipments of over 2,000 were up well over 100% over the same quarter last year. Of these, we estimate approximately 75% before approved therapies and the rest were for clinical trials. Total evo shipments for the full year 2022 were nearly 10,000, again, a doubling over 2021.

借助我們的 evo 冷鏈管理平台，細胞和基因治療公司現在可以通過我們擴展的專業快遞合作夥伴網絡訪問我們的定義類產品，該網絡現在包括 CSafe、World Courier、Quick International、Thermo Fisher、Marken 和 Biocair。我們相信我們可以繼續推動我們的 evo 平台成為有意義的收入和利潤貢獻者。第 4 季度 evo 的出貨量超過 2,000 台，比去年同期增長了 100% 以上。其中，我們估計大約 75% 是在批准治療之前，其餘用於臨床試驗。 2022 年全年的 evo 總出貨量接近 10,000，再次比 2021 年翻了一番。

We're collecting a huge amount of shipment information that is shaping our innovation and development of our transport containers and evo.is Cloud App. We are focused on giving our courier partners and end CGT customers even more actionable data to reduce risk. We continue to support validations by additional CGT companies with approved therapies.

我們正在收集大量貨運信息，這些信息正在影響我們對運輸集裝箱和 evo.is Cloud App 的創新和開發。我們專注於為我們的快遞合作夥伴和最終 CGT 客戶提供更多可操作的數據以降低風險。我們繼續支持其他 CGT 公司對批准的療法進行驗證。

Based on our force-multiplying courier network, we believe that the evo platform will increasingly be selected as a class-defining, temperature-controlled shipping container and related Cloud App by the leading CGT companies.

基於我們倍增的快遞網絡，我們相信 evo 平台將越來越多地被領先的 CGT 公司選擇為定義等級的溫控集裝箱和相關的雲應用程序。

To wrap up, new customers acquired in 2022, the full year estimates for product and service line include 69 for biopreservation media, 33 for Sexton cell processing solutions, 99 for SciSafe storage services, 43 for evo Cold Chain management, 82 for cryogenic freezers, 461 for ULT freezers, and 35 for Thaw Systems. Additionally, to illustrate the reach of our largest media distributor, STEMCELL Technologies, in 2022, they sold and shipped our products to more than 3,000 unique end users and more than 500 of these were first-time users of our products. Turning now to an update on our continued work to improve operations, margin and quality at Stirling, our team is focused on supply chain optimization, reducing scrap, and improving efficiency in the plant to rightsize the workforce, with a focus on getting things done right the first time.

總而言之，2022 年獲得的新客戶，全年對產品和服務線的估計包括 69 個生物保存介質，33 個 Sexton 細胞處理解決方案，99 個 SciSafe 存儲服務，43 個 evo 冷鏈管理，82 個低溫冷凍機， 461 個用於超低溫冰箱，35 個用於解凍系統。此外，為了說明我們最大的媒體分銷商 STEMCELL Technologies 在 2022 年的影響力，他們向 3,000 多名獨特的最終用戶銷售和運送了我們的產品，其中 500 多名是我們產品的首次用戶。現在談談我們為改善斯特林的運營、利潤和質量而持續開展的工作的最新情況，我們的團隊專注於供應鏈優化、減少廢料和提高工廠效率以調整勞動力規模，重點是把事情做好第一次。

We're shipping from inventory, and our quality metrics are at an all-time high level.

我們從庫存發貨，我們的質量指標處於歷史最高水平。

Now I'll turn the call back over to Troy to present our financials for Q4 and the full year 2022. Troy?

現在我將把電話轉回給特洛伊，介紹我們第四季度和 2022 年全年的財務狀況。特洛伊？

Thank you, Mike. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022, totaled a record $44.3 million, representing a total increase of 19% and organic increase of 18% over Q4 of 2021, driven by a 35% increase in biopreservation media revenue.

謝謝你，邁克。 2022 年第四季度的總收入總計達到創紀錄的 4430 萬美元，比 2021 年第四季度總收入增長 19%，有機增長 18%，這主要受生物保存介質收入增長 35% 的推動。

COVID-19-related revenue accounted for approximately 5% of total revenue in the quarter versus 15% in Q4 2021. Cell processing platform revenue was $20.2 million. Total revenue increased 36% and organic revenue increased 35% over the same period in 2021. Freezers and Thaw Systems platform revenue was $17.4 million. Total and organic revenue was up 5% over the same period in 2021.

與 COVID-19 相關的收入約佔本季度總收入的 5%，而 2021 年第四季度為 15%。細胞處理平台收入為 2020 萬美元。與 2021 年同期相比，總收入增長 36%，有機收入增長 35%。冷凍機和解凍系統平台收入為 1740 萬美元。總收入和有機收入比 2021 年同期增長 5%。

COVID-19-related revenue accounted for approximately 3% of the Freezer and Thaw Systems platform revenue versus 15% in Q4 2021. Storage and storage services platform revenue was $6.7 million, with both total and organic growth of 14% over the same period in 2021.

與 COVID-19 相關的收入約佔 Freezer and Thaw Systems 平台收入的 3%，而 2021 年第四季度為 15%。存儲和存儲服務平台收入為 670 萬美元，總收入和有機增長均比去年同期增長 14% 2021.

COVID-19-related revenue accounted for approximately 21% of the Storage and storage services platform revenue versus 50% in Q4 2021. Total revenue for the full year 2022 was $161.8 million. Total revenue increased 36% and organic revenue increased 38% over 2021. COVID-19-related revenue was approximately 8% compared with approximately 15% in 2021.

與 COVID-19 相關的收入約佔存儲和存儲服務平台收入的 21%，而 2021 年第四季度為 50%。2022 年全年總收入為 1.618 億美元。與 2021 年相比，總收入增長了 36%，有機收入增長了 38%。與 COVID-19 相關的收入約為 8%，而 2021 年約為 15%。

Adjusted gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2022 was 32% compared with 17% for the fourth quarter of 2021. For the full year of 2022, adjusted gross margin was 33% compared with 32% in 2021. The Q4 2022 adjusted gross margin was impacted by a late Q3 2022 stock grant to the operational team, which increased approximately $1 million over Q3 2022 or 2.3 percentage points of Q4 2022 revenue.

2022 年第四季度調整後毛利率為 32%，而 2021 年第四季度為 17%。2022 年全年調整後毛利率為 33%，而 2021 年為 32%。2022 年第四季度調整後毛利率為受到 2022 年第三季度末向運營團隊授予股票的影響，這比 2022 年第三季度增加了約 100 萬美元，佔 2022 年第四季度收入的 2.3 個百分點。

In addition, we had unfavorable product and customer mix at our LN2 freezer line, inventory write-off charges and a decrease in SciSafe COVID-19-related revenue without an associated decrease of infrastructure costs. We expect adjusted gross margin to improve in 2023 versus 2022. GAAP operating expenses for Q4 2022 were $93.5 million, which includes an intangible impairment of $40.5 million related to the Global Cooling acquisition versus $54.9 million in Q4 2021. The noncash impairment to the Global Cooling intangible assets in Q4 resulted primarily from changes in our revenue assumptions due to updated estimates for customer capital spending in the current macroeconomic environment, as noted by some of our competitors in Q3 and Q4 of 2022 and longer-than-expected inflationary pressures on raw materials.

此外，我們的 LN2 冷凍機生產線的產品和客戶組合不利，庫存註銷費用以及與 SciSafe COVID-19 相關的收入減少，而基礎設施成本卻沒有相應降低。我們預計 2023 年調整後的毛利率將比 2022 年有所改善。2022 年第四季度的 GAAP 運營費用為 9350 萬美元，其中包括與 Global Cooling 收購相關的 4050 萬美元無形減值，而 2021 年第四季度為 5490 萬美元。Global Cooling 的非現金減值第四季度的無形資產主要是由於我們的收入假設發生變化，這是由於我們的一些競爭對手在 2022 年第三季度和第四季度指出的當前宏觀經濟環境下對客戶資本支出的最新估計以及原材料的通脹壓力長於預期.

For the full year of 2022, GAAP operating expenses were $307.3 million, which includes noncash intangible impairments totaling $110.4 million in Q2 and Q4 of 2022 related to the Global Cooling acquisition compared with full year 2021 GAAP operating expenses of $154.3 million. Adjusted operating expenses for Q4 2022 were $22.1 million compared with $19.2 million in Q4 2021. For the full year of 2022, adjusted operating expenses were $83.4 million compared with $59.6 million in 2021. Full year 2022 adjusted operating expenses increased due to the 2021 acquisitions of Global Cooling and Sexton.

2022 年全年，GAAP 運營費用為 3.073 億美元，其中包括 2022 年第二季度和第四季度與 Global Cooling 收購相關的非現金無形資產減值總額 1.104 億美元，而 2021 年全年 GAAP 運營費用為 1.543 億美元。 2022 年第四季度調整後運營費用為 2210 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 1920 萬美元。2022 年全年調整後運營費用為 8340 萬美元，而 2021 年為 5960 萬美元。2022 年全年調整後運營費用增加，原因是 2021 年收購了全球冷卻和塞克斯頓。

In addition, operating expenses increased in Q4 and full year 2022 due to higher accounting costs and increased headcount to support our growth. Adjusted operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2022 was $8.2 million compared with adjusted operating loss of $13.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Our adjusted operating loss for the full year of 2022 totaled $29.3 million compared with adjusted operating loss of $21.5 million in 2021.

此外，由於更高的會計成本和增加的員工人數以支持我們的增長，第四季度和 2022 年全年的運營費用有所增加。 2022 年第四季度調整後運營虧損為 820 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度調整後運營虧損為 1310 萬美元。我們 2022 年全年調整後運營虧損總計 2930 萬美元，而 2021 年調整後運營虧損為 2150 萬美元.

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2022 was positive $1.7 million compared with negative $5.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2021. For the full year of 2022, adjusted EBITDA was positive $3.6 million compared with positive $4.1 million in 2021. Our cash and marketable securities balance at December 31, 2022, was $64.1 million compared with $61.7 million at September 30, 2022.

2022 年第四季度調整後 EBITDA 為正 170 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為負 590 萬美元。2022 年全年調整後 EBITDA 為正 360 萬美元，而 2021 年為正 410 萬美元。我們的現金和有價證券2022 年 12 月 31 日的餘額為 6410 萬美元，而 2022 年 9 月 30 日的餘額為 6170 萬美元。

Now turning to our 2023 revenue guidance, which we are reaffirming from our January 9, 2023 preliminary revenue press release. Full year revenue is expected to be in the range of $188 million to $202 million, reflecting year-over-year and organic growth of 16% to 25% and an expected split of 45% in the first half of the year and 55% in the second half. Excluding COVID-19-related revenue, year-over-year growth of 26% to 35%. Revenue guidance for 2023 does not include any COVID-19-related revenue. Total revenue expectations for 2023 include the following platform contributions, Cell processing platform, $89 million to $93 million, an increase of 30% to 35% over 2022. Freezers & Thaw Systems platform, $72.5 million to $79 million, an increase of 9% to 18% over 2022.

現在轉向我們的 2023 年收入指引，我們從 2023 年 1 月 9 日的初步收入新聞稿中重申了這一點。全年收入預計在 1.88 億美元至 2.02 億美元之間，反映了 16% 至 25% 的同比有機增長，預計上半年的收入佔比為 45%，下半年為 55%下半場。不包括與 COVID-19 相關的收入，同比增長 26% 至 35%。 2023 年的收入指引不包括任何與 COVID-19 相關的收入。 2023 年的總收入預期包括以下平台貢獻，細胞處理平台，8900 萬美元至 9300 萬美元，比 2022 年增長 30% 至 35%。冷凍機和解凍系統平台，7250 萬美元至 7900 萬美元，增長 9% 至比 2022 年增長 18%。

Excluding COVID-19 related revenue, year-over-year growth of 13% to 23%. Storage and storage services platform, $26.5 million to $30 million, an increase of 0% to 13% over 2022. Excluding COVID-19-related revenue, year-over-year growth of 64% to 86%. Although the company does not provide guidance below the revenue line, we expect improvements in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA in 2023 compared to 2022. In terms of our share count, as of March 10, 2023, we had 43.1 million shares issued and outstanding and 46.1 million shares on a fully diluted basis.

不包括 COVID-19 相關收入，同比增長 13% 至 23%。存儲和存儲服務平台，2650 萬美元至 3000 萬美元，比 2022 年增長 0% 至 13%。不包括與 COVID-19 相關的收入，同比增長 64% 至 86%。儘管公司沒有提供低於收入線的指導，但我們預計 2023 年的毛利率和調整後的 EBITDA 將比 2022 年有所改善。就我們的股票數量而言，截至 2023 年 3 月 10 日，我們已發行和流通在外的股票數量為 4310 萬股，完全稀釋後的 4610 萬股。

Next, I'd like to talk about 10b5-1 plans. As you may recall, several executives requested to be paid in stock in lieu of salary in 2022. Some executives entered 10b5-1 plans back in 2022, with planned sales upcoming in Q1 2023. These plans can't be changed, and sales are based on personal reasons and not related to the business outlook of BioLife.

接下來，我想談談10b5-1計劃。您可能還記得，幾位高管要求在 2022 年以股票代替工資。一些高管早在 2022 年就進入了 10b5-1 計劃，計劃在 2023 年第一季度進行銷售。這些計劃無法更改，銷售是基於個人原因，與 BioLife 的業務前景無關。

Lastly, I'd like to address our 10-K filing. Due to turnover at our corporate controller position in late Q4 and additional SOX requirements for in-scope entities, Global Cooling and Sexton, we will be filing an extension this year. We will be filing for the automatic extension with the SEC, which gives us an extension of 15 calendar days from today to file our 10-K and still be considered timely. We expect to file within the extended period.

最後，我想談談我們的 10-K 申請。由於第四季度末我們公司財務總監職位的更替以及範圍內實體 Global Cooling 和 Sexton 的額外 SOX 要求，我們將在今年申請延期。我們將向美國證券交易委員會申請自動延期，這使我們從今天起有 15 個日曆日的延期來提交我們的 10-K，並且仍然被認為是及時的。我們希望在延長的期限內提交。

Now I'll turn the call to Mike.

現在我會把電話轉給邁克。

Thanks, Troy. I'll summarize our key takeaways for 2022. First, BioLife Solutions is a critical, highly trusted tools and services provider to the cell and gene therapy industry. We built a valuable portfolio of solutions that can help CGT developers increase their likelihood of success by reducing risk in the manufacturing, storage and distribution workflows. Number two, demand for our portfolio of classifying bioproduction tools and services remain strong. And let's all remember that we're still in the early innings of CGT approvals and we have hundreds of shots on goal.

謝謝，特洛伊。我將總結我們 2022 年的主要收穫。首先，BioLife Solutions 是細胞和基因治療行業重要的、高度值得信賴的工具和服務提供商。我們構建了一個有價值的解決方案組合，可以幫助 CGT 開發人員通過降低製造、存儲和分銷工作流程中的風險來增加成功的可能性。第二，對我們的生物生產分類工具和服務組合的需求依然強勁。讓我們都記住，我們仍處於 CGT 批准的早期階段，我們有數百次射門。

We continue to drive a mix shift to high-margin recurring revenue anchored by our cell processing and storage services platforms. Number three, we made significant supply chain and quality improvements in 2022 and will continue to do so this year. Turning to 2023. We expect to continue to drive adoption of our solutions in the CGT space with our cell processing offerings embedded in up to 10 additional candidates that could get approved this year and next year.

我們繼續推動向以我們的細胞處理和存儲服務平台為基礎的高利潤經常性收入的混合轉變。第三，我們在 2022 年對供應鍊和質量進行了重大改進，並將在今年繼續這樣做。轉向 2023 年。我們希望繼續推動我們的解決方案在 CGT 領域的採用，我們的細胞處理產品嵌入多達 10 個可能在今年和明年獲得批准的候選藥物中。

We remain confident that we will achieve our 2024 exit run rate aspirational financial goals of $250 million in revenue, 50 points of adjusted gross margin and 30 points of adjusted EBITDA margin.

我們仍然相信，我們將實現 2024 年退出運行率的理想財務目標，即收入 2.5 億美元、調整後毛利率 50 個百分點和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率 30 個百分點。

Now I'll turn the call back over to the operator.

現在我將把電話轉回給接線員。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Jacob Johnson with Stephens.

（操作員說明）我們將與斯蒂芬斯一起接受雅各布約翰遜的第一個問題。

Troy, maybe just first on gross margin -- just first for Troy or for you, Mike, just on the gross margin, decline sequentially. I appreciate the items you called out, and I appreciate the 50% gross margin by 4Q '24. Can you help us kind of bridge to that 50% and the key levers you can pull to achieve that? And then also understanding you don't guide below the line, but could you maybe help us with how much gross margin you could realize in 2023 or what that could look like?

特洛伊，也許只是毛利率的第一個——首先是特洛伊或你，邁克，只是毛利率，依次下降。我很欣賞你所說的項目，我很欣賞到 24 年第四季度的 50% 毛利率。您能否幫助我們架起通往那 50% 的橋樑，以及您可以利用哪些關鍵槓桿來實現這一目標？然後還了解到您不會在線下指導，但您能否幫助我們了解您在 2023 年可以實現多少毛利率或者它可能是什麼樣子？

I'll take the longer-term view and maybe Troy can speak a little more about 2023. But our levers to use your term, Jacob, about the bridge to margin aspirational goals are really based on three things as it relates to ULT. And again, as ULT is a fairly significant chunk of revenue, so that's meaningful. And those are to continue to optimize the supply chain and look for opportunities to reduce waste, improve productivity in the plant, but also on the top line, much better margins from new products and new service revenue streams that are related to freezers. And again, when we can speak more about that in detail, we surely will. Troy, do you want to speak at all about the last step of this year where we expect the more meaningful margin improvements?

我會採取更長遠的觀點，也許 Troy 可以多談談 2023 年。但我們使用你的術語 Jacob 的槓桿關於實現利潤率理想目標的橋樑實際上是基於與 ULT 相關的三件事。再一次，由於 ULT 是收入中相當重要的一部分，所以這很有意義。這些都是為了繼續優化供應鏈，尋找機會減少浪費，提高工廠的生產力，但最重要的是，與冷凍機相關的新產品和新服務收入流帶來更高的利潤。再說一次，當我們可以詳細討論這個問題時，我們一定會的。特洛伊，你想談談今年的最後一步，我們期待更有意義的利潤率改善嗎？

Yes. In addition to what Mike said, the SciSafe facility, too, throughout the year, we expect higher utilization, which has an impact on the gross margin. In light of that, we expect the margin expansion to be more weighted in the second half of the year versus the first half. And as I mentioned in my remarks, too, we had unfavorable product mix at our LN2 line, higher-than-expected scrap, and then again, that COVID revenue at SciSafe dropping off had a pretty big impact on our overall gross margin.

是的。除了 Mike 所說的，SciSafe 設施也在全年中，我們預計利用率會更高，這會對毛利率產生影響。有鑑於此，我們預計利潤率擴張在今年下半年比上半年更具權重。正如我在發言中提到的，我們的 LN2 生產線的產品組合不利，報廢率高於預期，而且 SciSafe 的 COVID 收入下降對我們的整體毛利率產生了相當大的影響。

Okay. Got it. And then I guess my follow-up, Mike, just on kind of the levers for growth going forward. I may -- maybe I forgot about this, but I don't remember you kind of highlighting allogeneic specifically. Obviously, it's a big opportunity for the industry. But I'm just kind of curious, as we think about allogeneic therapies and maybe some of your key offerings like media, evo and freezers, how does the opportunity for an allogeneic therapy compare to an autologous across those lines?

好的。知道了。然後我想我的後續行動，邁克，只是關於未來增長的槓桿。我可能——也許我忘記了這一點，但我不記得你特別強調了同種異體。顯然，這對行業來說是一個巨大的機會。但我只是有點好奇，當我們考慮同種異體療法以及您的一些主要產品（如媒體、evo 和冰櫃）時，同種異體療法的機會與這些方面的自體療法相比如何？

Yes. Super question. It will be significant. And we firmly believe that there will be an eventual shift to predominantly allogeneic therapies as more biology is understood and the infrastructure to support massive production of doses that can be administered to unrelated recipients relative to the donor gets all flushed out in the system. So that's certainly an upside lever and a catalyst for us that we think is going to be meaningful. And I'll just remind our listeners that we are involved in the leading allogeneic cell therapy developers today. And you've heard me mention some of those names. And so again, a good lever for us.

是的。超級問題。這將是重要的。我們堅信，隨著對生物學的了解越來越多，支持大規模生產劑量的基礎設施將最終轉向以同種異體為主的療法，這些劑量可以用於與供體無關的接受者，這些基礎設施在系統中全部被淘汰。所以這對我們來說肯定是一個上行槓桿和催化劑，我們認為這將是有意義的。我只想提醒我們的聽眾，我們參與了當今領先的同種異體細胞療法開發人員。你聽說過我提到過其中一些名字。同樣，這對我們來說是一個很好的槓桿。

As far as when that's going to happen, nobody really has the best crystal ball, but we have the shots on goal there, so we're going to continue to support those customers. And at some point, some number of those, a meaningful number are going to get approval, and then we're going to see that manufactured dose count skyrocket relative to what the total combined global production of autologous cell therapies is at least in the current time frame, right?

至於什麼時候會發生，沒有人真正擁有最好的水晶球，但我們有射門機會，所以我們將繼續支持這些客戶。在某個時候，其中一些，有意義的數字將獲得批准，然後我們將看到製造的劑量計數相對於全球自體細胞療法的總產量至少在當前飆升時間框架，對嗎？

We'll take our next question from Yuan Zhi with B. Riley.

我們將與 B. Riley 一起接受 Yuan Zhi 的下一個問題。

Maybe one follow-up on Jason's question. So how should we understand the path of average 2 points improvement per quarter? Does it mean that you can achieve 40% adjusted margin by year-end 2023 and another 10% improvement in 2024? Just some additional color would be very helpful.

也許對 Jason 的問題進行後續跟進。那麼我們應該如何理解每季度平均提升2個點的路徑呢？這是否意味著您可以在 2023 年年底實現 40% 的調整後利潤率，並在 2024 年再提高 10%？只是一些額外的顏色會非常有幫助。

Yes. Good question, Yuan. And we would encourage people not to try to linearize that in terms of margin improvement because some of those things will be large step changes based on the new revenue streams of new products and new services. And we don't give, obviously, quarterly guidance when that's going to happen, but we would discourage people trying to just annualize that and then break it down into 4 chunks of 2 points of piece. That's not the way we're thinking about it internally here, okay?

是的。好問題，袁。我們鼓勵人們不要試圖在利潤率提高方面將其線性化，因為其中一些事情將根據新產品和新服務的新收入流而發生重大變化。顯然，當這種情況發生時，我們不會給出季度指導，但我們會阻止人們試圖將其年化，然後將其分解為 4 個 2 點的塊。這不是我們內部考慮的方式，好嗎？

Yes. Got it. Yes. And then for your 2023 growth, thank you for putting out the chart of the new customer acquisition in 4Q 2022. I just want to hear, do you attribute your 2023 growth to growing demand from existing customers versus acquisition of new customers?

是的。知道了。是的。然後，對於您 2023 年的增長，感謝您在 2022 年第四季度發布了新客戶獲取圖表。我只想听聽，您是否將 2023 年的增長歸因於現有客戶需求的增長與新客戶的獲取？

Yes. Good question, Yuan. So more weighted toward growth with existing customers. As that book of revenue was spread out amongst -- that fixed overhead that supports that. So those new customers are great. Their seeds being planted but they're not that meaningful in their early years until they get to later stages of development.

是的。好問題，袁。因此更側重於現有客戶的增長。由於那本收入賬簿分散在 - 支持它的固定間接費用中。所以那些新客戶很棒。他們的種子正在播種，但在他們進入後期發展階段之前，他們在早期並沒有那麼有意義。

So most of the revenue comes from existing customers, and we're obviously doing all we can to sell more to those existing customers to get deeper, while not obviously taking our eye off the ball with nurturing those nascent customers, some of which are going to grow up to be the meaningful customers of tomorrow in the next year as they make it across the goal line and their own therapies are commercialized.

所以大部分收入來自現有客戶，我們顯然正在盡我們所能向這些現有客戶銷售更多產品以更深入地發展，同時顯然我們並沒有把注意力從培養那些新生客戶上移開，其中一些正在發展隨著他們跨越目標線並且他們自己的療法被商業化，在明年成長為明天有意義的客戶。

Yes. Got it. And one last question from us. As you may have seen (inaudible) Johnson & Johnson post their U.K. launch of their CAR-T product due to the supply chain stress. I understand different cell and gene therapy service providers have different exposure to each CAR-T product. (inaudible) how this would impact your 1Q 2023 and 2023 revenue, full year revenue? Of course, we are only a few days away from 2Q. So 1Q might be less impacted in terms of our forecast.

是的。知道了。我們的最後一個問題。您可能已經看到（聽不清）由於供應鏈壓力，強生公司在英國發布了他們的 CAR-T 產品。我了解不同的細胞和基因治療服務提供商對每種 CAR-T 產品有不同的接觸。 （聽不清）這將如何影響您 2023 年第一季度和 2023 年的收入，全年收入？當然，我們距離第二季度只有幾天的時間。因此，就我們的預測而言，第一季度受到的影響可能較小。

Yes. Fair question, Yuan, but I'll just say that we don't speak about particular customers on a revenue basis. But I will say that just generally, that news from (inaudible), it's not impacting our view of how this year is going to turn out. I'll leave it at that, okay?

是的。公平的問題，袁，但我只想說我們不會在收入的基礎上談論特定的客戶。但我要說的是，一般來說，來自（聽不清）的消息不會影響我們對今年結果的看法。我會保留它，好嗎？

We'll take our next question from Max Masucci with TD Cowen.

我們將接受 Max Masucci 和 TD Cowen 的下一個問題。

This is Stephanie on for Max. Congrats on a great year. So starting off -- so starting off, last quarter, you indicated some supply chain constraints in both your Cell processing and Freezers segment. How much did supply chain constraints affect Q4 performance in these segments? And what are your expectations for the constraints in 2023?

這是 Max 的 Stephanie。恭喜你度過了美好的一年。所以開始 - 所以從上個季度開始，你在你的細胞處理和冰櫃部分都指出了一些供應鏈限制。供應鏈限制對這些細分市場的第四季度業績有多大影響？您對2023年的約束有何預期？

Yes. I think I'll answer the last part first. We made some significant improvements in sourcing tanks for freezers but also a new bag supplier on the media side in cell processing, which will hopefully reduce the scrap that we've been experiencing for the last several quarters in a row now. The bag supplier we currently have is a world-class company, but the bag itself is not particularly certified as particulate free.

是的。我想我會先回答最後一部分。我們在冷凍機的採購罐方面做出了一些重大改進，而且在細胞處理的介質方面也有一個新的袋子供應商，這有望減少我們在過去幾個季度中連續遇到的廢料。我們目前的袋子供應商是一家世界級的公司，但袋子本身並沒有特別認證為無顆粒物。

And so we're having to throw a fair amount of bags away because they do have particulates in them despite the supplier's best efforts. And obviously, our own internal inspection is completely rigid and robust about that. But the new supplier that's coming online, we think will have a meaningful impact in reducing scrap and then improving gross margin within already high-margin cell processing line itself. And then as far as in the quarter, there's certainly -- in Q4, there certainly was some scrap that Troy had mentioned, whether it's talking about bags or we had some scrap in evo line, and we had some scrap in the freezer line as well.

因此，我們不得不扔掉相當多的袋子，因為儘管供應商盡了最大努力，但它們中確實含有微粒。顯然，我們自己的內部檢查對此是完全嚴格和穩健的。但是，我們認為即將上線的新供應商將對減少廢料產生有意義的影響，然後提高已經高利潤的電池加工線本身的毛利率。然後就本季度而言，肯定有 - 在第四季度，Troy 提到的肯定有一些廢料，無論是談論袋子還是我們在 evo 生產線中有一些廢料，我們在冷凍生產線中有一些廢料作為出色地。

Got it. That's helpful color. And then for 2023, you guided cell processing revenues to grow 30% to 35% year-over-year, which compares to the 52% growth you saw in 2022. Is there a decent amount of conservatism baked in here? And are there any potential sources of upside that you can highlight for the year?

知道了。這是有用的顏色。然後到 2023 年，您指導細胞處理收入同比增長 30% 至 35%，而您在 2022 年看到的增長率為 52%。這裡是否存在相當程度的保守主義？今年有什麼潛在的上行來源可以強調嗎？

Yes. I appreciate you noticing that. That's an anticipated question on our side. And yes, indeed, we are conservative by nature. Our goal is to meet or slightly beat and not have bad surprises. And there could be some upside that we would speak to, but I'll just say generally, and not speak about specific customers in that regard.

是的。感謝您注意到這一點。這是我們這邊預料到的問題。是的，的確，我們天生就是保守派。我們的目標是達到或略勝一籌並且沒有意外。我們可能會談到一些好處，但我只是籠統地說，而不是談論這方面的特定客戶。

We're obviously keeping a really close eye on the 5 anticipated approvals this year and the 5 for next year and really paying attention to those customers and working with their procurement teams to make sure that we've got good forecast and plenty of inventory to take care of them.

顯然，我們非常密切關註今年的 5 項預期批准和明年的 5 項批准，並真正關注這些客戶並與他們的採購團隊合作，以確保我們有良好的預測和充足的庫存照顧他們。

Got it. That's helpful. And if I could just squeeze in one more. You've previously -- so you indicated a goal to reach 70% recurring high-margin revenue of total revenues in 2025. What are the steps that you're taking to increase that higher margin recurring revenue stream? And what catalysts should we be looking for to monitor your progress?

知道了。這很有幫助。如果我能再擠一個。你之前 - 所以你表示目標是在 2025 年達到總收入的 70% 的經常性高利潤收入。你正在採取哪些步驟來增加更高利潤率的經常性收入流？我們應該尋找哪些催化劑來監測您的進展？

Yes. Good question. So we're already at about 60% now. So it's 10 percentage points of improvement to get there to have 70% recurring high margin or disposable consumable, call it what you want. And that will be driven from, obviously, this the de novo growth in cell processing from the current customers and then the additional customers that are in late stage and between now and then, some of them getting approved and kicking into becoming meaningful revenue contributors, but also some of the new products and services as it relates to accessories and other non-instrument product and service lines that we've got in development right now.

是的。好問題。所以我們現在已經達到了 60% 左右。因此，要達到 70% 的經常性高利潤或一次性消耗品，需要 10 個百分點的改進，隨便你怎麼說。顯然，這將受到當前客戶的細胞處理的從頭增長，以及處於後期階段和不時之間的額外客戶的推動，其中一些客戶獲得批准並開始成為有意義的收入貢獻者，還有一些新產品和服務，因為它與我們目前正在開發的配件和其他非儀器產品和服務線有關。

And we just love to tell everybody in the call, a lot of those details, but obviously, for competitive reasons, we'll hold that fire until its time.

我們只是想告訴電話中的每個人，很多細節，但顯然，出於競爭原因，我們會一直堅持到那個時候。

We'll take our next question from Thomas Flaten with Lake Street.

我們將從 Thomas Flaten 和 Lake Street 那裡回答下一個問題。

As we look kind of -- as you're exiting 2024, Mike, I'm curious about the geographic distribution revenues. Do you anticipate there being any significant shift from the way the revenues are distributed today?

正如我們看起來 - 當你退出 2024 年時，邁克，我對地理分銷收入很好奇。您預計今天的收入分配方式會發生重大變化嗎？

Yes. Really good question, Thomas. So yes, I would say that we would look for a much more meaningful contribution from Asia-Pacific compared to where it is now relatively speaking.

是的。真是個好問題，托馬斯。所以是的，我想說的是，與現在相對而言，我們會從亞太地區尋求更有意義的貢獻。

And can you talk a little bit about what parts of the business or maybe it's all will contribute to that shift over to Asia?

你能談談業務的哪些部分或者可能所有部分都將有助於向亞洲的轉移嗎？

I'll just speak mostly about channels, right? About direct and indirect and compared to what we have today in terms of a very modest number of feet on the street and a lot of distributors and then our efforts to rationalize that network of distributors in APAC to make sure we've got the most productive, the most technically fluent from a sales perspective, most productive distributors carrying our solutions. So that's the stuff we're focused on.

我只會主要談論渠道，對嗎？關於直接和間接，與我們今天所擁有的相比，我們在街道上的腳數非常少，而且有很多分銷商，然後我們努力使亞太地區的分銷商網絡合理化，以確保我們的生產力最高，從銷售角度來看技術最流利，最有生產力的分銷商攜帶我們的解決方案。這就是我們關注的內容。

Got it. And then just one quick one on cross-selling. Is there a particular direction from which cross-selling has been most meaningful? Is it media customers buying freezers or maybe it's freezer customers buying media? I'm just curious if you could characterize that a little bit for us.

知道了。然後只是關於交叉銷售的一個快速的。是否存在交叉銷售最有意義的特定方向？是媒體客戶購買冰櫃還是冰櫃客戶購買媒體？我只是想知道您是否可以為我們描述一下這一點。

Yes. I'll try. Well, the obvious one is within cell processing, the highest affinity is between the biopreservation media and the Sexton media, vials and filling teams because those are opportunities where it's the exact same call point decision-maker, influencer base amongst those 2 parts of that platform. And then I would draw some parallels to between freezers and our storage services because -- and it's a benefit that we have now that in today's capital equipment environment with some products being delayed, we can in the same conversation offer to the customer or the prospect to store their biologic material for them in our freezers and our facilities as opposed to just kind of having to walk away with our hat in their hands, saying, well, okay, give me a call if your cash gets freed up and you can place the order for freezers. So that's another one that we're really focused on.

是的。我會盡力。好吧，最明顯的是在細胞處理中，生物保存培養基和 Sexton 培養基、小瓶和灌裝團隊之間的親和力最高，因為這些機會是完全相同的呼叫點決策者，這兩個部分中的影響者基礎平台。然後我會在冷凍機和我們的存儲服務之間進行一些比較，因為 - 這是我們現在擁有的一個好處，在當今的資本設備環境中，一些產品被延遲，我們可以在同一個對話中向客戶或潛在客戶提供將他們的生物材料儲存在我們的冰箱和我們的設施中，而不是讓他們拿著我們的帽子走開，說，好吧，如果你的現金有空了就給我打電話，你可以把冰櫃的訂單。所以這是我們真正關注的另一個問題。

(Operator Instructions) And there are no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Mike Rice for any additional or closing comments.

（操作員說明）並且沒有進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回 Mike Rice 以徵求任何其他或結束意見。

Thank you, Lisa. Thanks again, everyone, for your interest in BioLife. Have a great evening, and we look forward to seeing many of you next week at our Analyst/Investor Day in Boston. Good night.

謝謝你，麗莎。再次感謝大家對 BioLife 的關注。祝你度過一個愉快的夜晚，我們期待下週在波士頓的分析師/投資者日見到你們中的許多人。晚安。

And that does conclude today's presentation. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

這確實結束了今天的演講。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。