Trinity Biotech PLC (TRIB) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Trinity Biotech Q4 and Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ronan O’Caoimh. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon here, and good morning to everybody in the United States. I'm joined by John Gillard, our Chief Financial Officer, and who is firstly going to bring you through the results for the quarter. Then I'm going to give you an outline of progress in sales and marketing, and I'll give you a revenue review, and then we'll open the call to a question-and-answer session.

So if I could ask John to go ahead, please.

Thanks, Ronan. Good morning, everyone, or afternoon, depending on where you are at. And thank you for participating in our earnings conference call.

Before we begin, I must inform you that the statements made in this earnings call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in such statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, those set forth in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after today or the occurrences of unanticipated events.

Now I will take you through the results for Q4 2020 and then the results for the full year 2020. You will note that from our press release that a noncash impairment charge has been recognized this quarter, as has been the case in recent years. And this is discussed at the end of the income statement commentary in the press release. I will give further details on this later in the call. In addition, earlier in 2020, the company recognized one-off costs relating to the closure of our Carlsbad, California facility. The income statement metrics I will quote exclude the impact of these 2 charges.

I will begin by outlining the results for Q4 2020, and then I will move on to discuss the results for the whole year, as I mentioned. Starting with revenues. Total revenues for the quarter were $32.8 million compared to $21.3 million in Q4 2019. As is our typical approach, Ronan will discuss revenues in further detail later on the call. As such, I will move on to disclose other aspects of the income statement. Gross margin for the quarter was 47.8% compared with 43.5% in Q4 2019, which is a significant improvement. This improvement in margin is largely as a result of sales mix changes, including continued strong COVID-19 related revenue, lower levels of instrument placements and the impact of cost saving measures put in place during 2020. Our gross margin remains susceptible to product mix changes, geographic spreads, currency fluctuations, and product level variation. As such, while the improved margin is welcome, I would caution it is not necessarily a new baseline.

Other operating income increased from $24,000 in Q4 2019 to $1.9 million in Q4 2020. The $1.9 million income in 2020 mainly relates to funding received under the U.S. Government Cares Act, principally its Paycheck Protection Program. 2 out of 6 Paycheck Protection Program loans received by the company were forgiven during the year. We are in the process of seeking forgiveness for the remaining 4 Paycheck Protection Program loans, totaling $2.9 million, and we expect them to be forgiven in 2021. These 4 remaining loans are treated as short-term liabilities at December 31, 2020.

Moving on to R&D expenditure. This remained relatively flat compared to quarter 4 2019 at $1.3 million. Meanwhile, SG&A has increased by approximately $500,000 to $6.9 million. This increase was primarily driven by increased performance-related pay as a result of the company's increased sales and profitability compared to the prior year, and foreign exchange charges on the retranslation of non-U.S. dollar-denominated leases. These result in an operating profit of $9.1 million compared to $1.4 million reported in quarter 4 2019. Analysis of the $7.6 million increase in operating profit indicated it's primarily driven by increased revenue, which contributed almost $5 million to operating profit, with a gross margin improvement of $1.4 million with PPP loan forgiveness also adding to that increase.

Moving on to financial expenses. This includes the quarterly cash interest costs for our exchangeable notes of $1 million and $200,000 related to notional finance charges associated with leased facilities. These notional lease finance charges are required by the relevant accounting standard, IFRS 16. You will note that there are further noncash financial expenses of $800,000 which are made up of noncash accretion in the accounting carrying value of our exchangeable notes and noncash fair value adjustment to the convertible aspect of the note as required by the relevant accounting standard.

Profit after tax before impairment and noncash financial expense was $8.6 million compared to $1.3 million in quarter 4 2019. Tax for the quarter is a credit of $700,000, which is mainly related to the benefit of R&D credit, with current quarter operating profits expected to be largely sheltered by tax losses and deductions carried forward from prior periods, for which no deferred tax asset had been recognized previously. As in prior periods and set out in the press release, we quote earnings per ADR, effectively our equivalent of EPS, on a standard basis and also before the impact of impairment charges, one-off items and noncash financial expenses. In that modified measure, earnings per ADR have increased to $0.41 from $0.061 in Q4 2019, while diluted earnings per ADR have also increased, in this case, from 35.9% -- sorry, from $0.359 -- sorry, in this case, to $0.359 from $0.09 in Q4 2019. Earnings before interest, tax depreciation and share options for the quarter 4 2020 were $10 million.

I will now address the full year results for 2020. Starting with revenues. Total revenues for the year were $102 million compared with $90 million for the prior year. As I already mentioned, Ronan will discuss revenues in further detail later in the call. As such, I would again move on to discuss other aspects of the income statement.

Gross margin for the year was 47.6% compared to 42.2% last year, which is a significant improvement. Similar to quarter 4, this improvement in margin is largely as a result of sales mix changes, including continued strong COVID-19-related revenues, lower level of instrument placements, lower depreciation charges and the impact of cost saving initiatives put in place during 2020. Again, while the improved margin is welcome, I would caution it is not necessarily a new baseline. Other operating income increased from $0.1 million in 2019 to $1.9 million in 2020 and as I already mentioned, the $1.9 million income in 2020 mainly relates to funding received under the U.S. Government Cares Act, primarily its Paycheck Protection Program.

Moving on to R&D expenditure. This showed a slight reduction to $5.1 million in 2020 compared to $5.3 million in 2019. SG&A expenses decreased from $26.9 to $24.2 million, a decrease of 10%. The decrease in SG&A expenses were partly due to cost-saving measures, which were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and included the furloughing of some employees, reduced travel costs, cancellation of trade shows and other marketing events. These savings were partially offset by the aforementioned increase in performance-related pay due to higher revenues and profits.

Our share option costs remained broadly flat at $780,000. This resulted in an operating profit for 2020 of $20.3 million compared to $5.3 million reported for the full year 2019. The main drivers of the increase in operating profit were increased revenues, increased gross margins, lower SG&A costs and the forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Moving on to finance costs. This includes the annual cash interest costs of our exchangeable note of $4 million and $900,000 relating to notional finance charges associated with lease facilities, again as required by the relevant accounting standard, IFRS 16. Again, you will note that there are further noncash financial expenses, in this case, $1.9 million for 2020 as a whole, which is made up of noncash accretion in the accounting value of the exchangeable notes and, again, noncash fair value adjustments to the convertible asset of the note, required by the relevant accounting standard.

Profit after tax before impairments and noncash finance expense for 2020 was $15.7 million compared to a loss of $4.1 million reported in 2019. Again, in our press release, we quote annual earnings per ADR on a standard basis and also before the impact of noncash financial expenses and one-off items. That modified measure, earnings per ADR for 2020 have increased to $0.75 from a loss of $0.194 in 2019. Diluted earnings per ADR have also increased. In this case, to $0.749 from a loss of $0.003 in 2019. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and share options for 2020 were $24.2 million.

As I mentioned previously, the above metrics are before the noncash impairment charge of $17.8 million and the provision for one-off closure costs related to our Carlsbad facilities, which were announced earlier in 2020.

I want to provide you with more information on that impairment charge now. This charge results from the accounting standard driven impairment review we were required to carry out under IFRS as we have carried out in prior years. There are a number of factors taken into account in calculating the impairment, including the company's year-end share price, calculation of the company's cost of capital, the net asset value and future projected cash flows for individual cash-generating units in the business. In addition, the company examines individual project costs for indicators of impairment. The noncash impairment has been recognized against the following asset categories, intangible assets, $15.4 million; tangible assets of $1.8 million; and current assets of $600,000.

I would now move on to address some of the main balance sheet movements we have seen since quarter 3 2020. Property, plant and equipment decreased by $900,000, which is largely the accumulation of the aforementioned impairment charge of $1.8 million and depreciation of $0.5 million, which is offset by capital expenditure additions of $1.4 million. Annual assets decreased by $14 million, which is made up of amortization of $0.2 million, the aforementioned impairment of $15.4 million, offset by additions of 16 -- sorry, of $1.6 million. Trade and other receivables have increased by $1 million, reflecting the higher sales this quarter.

Moving on to inventories. You will see that these have remained broadly flat at $30 million. Meanwhile, our trade and other payables have increased by $4.2 million. This is driven by a number of items, including working capital efforts in quarter 4 to optimize credit terms of changes in suppliers, deferred revenue, accrued performance-related pay and partly offset by the Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven and accrued interest during the quarter. Provisions increased by almost $4 million, mainly reflecting outstanding obligations relating to the closure of the Carlsbad facility and other contingent liabilities.

Finally, I will discuss our cash flow for the quarter. Cash generated from operations during the quarter was $17.3 million. The company paid $2 million interest on the exchangeable note. Other major cash flows for the quarter included taxes and other interest of $1.1 million; capital expenditure of $3.6 million and payments for property leases of $0.7 million. Overall, this resulted in a strong cash balance of $27.3 million at the end of 2020, which is a net increase of $7.4 million in the quarter.

I'll now hand back to Ronan, who will bring you to the revenue.

Thank you, John. I'm going to review our revenues for quarter 4 and the revenues for the year before opening the call to a question-and-answer session.

Revenues for quarter 4 were $32.8 million compared with $21.3 million in the corresponding quarter last year, which is an increase of 54%. Point-of-Care revenues in quarter 4 were $2.5 million compared with $2.2 million in the corresponding quarter, which is an increase of 17%, with a strong recovery in HIV revenues in Africa, have now returned to normalized levels following 2 quarters, which were adversely impacted by the COVID-19. As you know, for many years, Trinity Biotech has been the dominant supplier of HIV confirmatory tests in Africa. [We decided] to now enter the screening market for HIV in Africa, which is a 12-fold bigger market by value. We are very pleased to have completed the clinical trials in Africa on this new product despite COVID headwinds over the last year. And we'll be making the final submissions to the World Health Organization within the next 2 weeks, thereby enabling us to enter the HIV screening market for the first time upon receipt of WHO approval, which we anticipate will occur over the next number of months. Results of the clinical trials were absolutely excellent.

Moving on to Clinical Laboratory. Our revenues for the quarter increased to $30.2 million from $19.1 million, which represents an increase of 57.8% compared to the corresponding quarter. This increase is primarily explained by strong COVID-19 related product revenues with our PCR Viral Transport Media product being the most significant contributor. With respect to the current quarter, in quarter 1 of 2021, we are continuing with our practice of not giving guidance despite being late in the quarter because of the fluid situation with COVID-related products. What we will say is that, clearly, quarter 4 was a very strong quarter, and we saw many of our customers stockpiling COVID-related products. And as a consequence of this and as a consequence also of evidence of slightly lower levels of COVID testing in the market, our revenues in quarter 1 2021 will not be as strong as in quarter 4 of 2020.

We have developed and continue to develop a strong suite of COVID-related products. Our FDA-approved PCR Viral Transport Media product, called FlexTrans, performed very strongly during the quarter. It's a sample collection device for COVID-19 PCR molecular testing, which is used to store the nasopharyngeal swap, which contains a patient sample, allowing to be transmitted in a stable environment. Transport medium stabilizes a sample and prevents bacterial growth and maintains its integrity until such time as the test is run in the laboratory. The company has scaled up its manufacturing capabilities of these products to meet strong demand.

Meanwhile, we received the CE Mark on our COVID-19 IgG ELISA antibody test during the quarter and are now free to sell the product throughout the European Union, in addition to the United States. The product has specificity in excess of 98% and sensitivity in excess of 95% in samples drawn at least 14 days from symptom onset. These percentages comfortably exceed the requirements of the FDA emergency use authorization pathway. The product is manufactured now at a facility in Jamestown, New York and is capable of being run on a wide range of instrumentation platforms allowing access to virtually every testing laboratory in the world.

Moving back to the development of COVID-19 tests. We have previously indicated that the company is also developing a rapid Point-of-Care COVID-19 test to detect IgG antibodies using finger-prick blood samples with the test running in 12 minutes. Development of this test has now been completed with excellent sensitivity and specificity comfortably within FDA requirements range. The company is now manufacturing product for final validation in advance of an emergency use authorization submission to the FDA, which we expect will be completed during the current quarter, following which we'll -- it'll enable to sell the product immediately in the United States -- sorry, during quarter 2, that is before the end of June.

In addition, the company is developing a COVID-19 rapid antigen test using nasopharyngeal swab, which runs in 12 minutes. The test will be manufactured in our automated manufacturing facility in Ireland with a cassette, which is virtually identical to that of both HIV Unigold and TrinScreen. Meanwhile, the company has also experienced significant increased revenue of our COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies. These monoclonal antibodies are the key raw material used in the manufacture of COVID-19 antigens. Lastly, as a consequence of COVID-19, we have experienced revenues of respiratory Point-of-Care products.

And moving back now to our core business. As already indicated, our HIV business has returned to a normalized revenue level. Our diabetes business continued to have low instrument placements during the quarter with just under 30 instruments placed, which is less than 50% of normal placement levels, hardly surprising as hospitals and clinics were unlikely to purchase new capital equipment in the midst of the pandemic. However, we are confident that these placements will fully recover in a post-pandemic environment. Meanwhile, reagent revenues in our diabetes business are running at about 90% of normal, again, due to the fact that patients are less likely to perform discretionary tests during the pandemic, while our autoimmune business was approximately 10% short of normal levels [again, due to the fact] that during COVID-19, many patients are deferring hospital and doctor visits except where absolutely necessary.

Now to look at the year as a whole. Total revenues for fiscal '20 were -- 2020 were $102 million compared with $90.4 million in 2019, which is an increase of 13% year-on-year. Point-of-Care revenues decreased from $11.4 million in 2019 to $9.2 million in 2020, which represents a decrease of 19%, was driven by lower HIV sales in both the U.S.A. and Africa. The decline in the U.S.A. is attributable to the decision to exit this market, which has been in decline for a number of years, while African sales were lower due to COVID-related issues, arising primarily in the second and third quarters.

Clinical Laboratory revenues increased from $79 million in 2019 to $92.8 million in 2020, which represents an increase of 17%. This increase is mainly due to strong sales within our COVID-19 related product portfolio with our PCR Viral Transport Media products being the most significant contributor to revenue within the portfolio. Due mainly to the impact of COVID-19, revenues for hemoglobins, autoimmune and infectious disease products all recorded decreases in 2020 compared to 2019. Our hemoglobins business revenues were affected by the deferral of diabetes instrument purchases as health care resources were stretched by the pandemic. Our autoimmune business was also impacted by COVID-19, experiencing lower testing volumes in our New York reference laboratory. However, we are confident of revenues in these business sectors entirely recovering in the post-pandemic environment.

So if I could now hand over to the operator for a question-and-answer session, please.

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Jim Sidoti with Sidoti & Company.

Sorry, I had to join the call a little late, so I'm sorry if you went over this already or not. But last quarter, I think you indicated that your revenue from the COVID-related products was around $13 million. Did you break that out for this quarter?

No, we haven't actually -- we haven't separated it.

Was it similar to last quarter? Can you give us anything on that?

It's about exactly -- I think it's about exactly the same, Jim.

Okay. Right. And you indicated that you're getting closer with the TrinScreen WHO approval. Should we assume that you'll be generating revenue from TrinScreen in 2022?

Oh, absolutely. Yes, absolutely in 2022. So the position we have at the moment is, is despite all the COVID headwinds where trials were delayed in the various countries, in 2 of the 3 countries, we -- and we have now completed the trials. And we expect -- we actually expect to -- we had already submitted to the FDA various (inaudible) World Health Organization, various modules and the final module -- which they've reviewed. The final module was the actual trials themselves. So we expect to submit that actually literally in the next 3 or 4 days, right? So everything has been assembled and they're ready to take it. And so now really it's just -- and by the way, the results were like extraordinarily good. They were absolutely really more or less beyond what we would expect. They were very close to perfection.

So it's a super, super product. And the WHO -- so now we just wait for them to review it. How quickly they'll do it in the COVID environment is unclear. We've actually been speaking with them over the last number of days and months. Of course, they're giving precedence to, sort of, for example, antigen tests. But we're hoping that they'll get to it reasonably quickly. And while we don't have any certainty, we'd certainly be hoping to get an approval in quarter 3, but that's outside of our control. We don't think we'll get it in quarter 2. And at that moment, we're free to sell.

So yes, I think we will undoubtedly have revenues in 2022. It's possible that we get some minor revenues in 2021, it's possible, we'd be hoping to do so. But then it's a matter of winning algorithms and whatever as they come up for a review. But in overall terms, as I said, in revenue -- potential revenue terms, this is, in terms of market size, it's bigger by a factor of 12. Okay, the pricing is lower than for confirmatory. But it's a huge market that we stayed away from in the past, and we're now interested to move. It's a market dominated by Alere, by Abbott's Alere product range. And we think that we could take significant market share over time.

And just in terms of timing, do you have to wait for tenders to start?

Yes. If you consider -- if you were to look across sort of 30 to 40 countries, algorithms tend to be -- algorithms come up for review, basically, supplier review. So basically the screening supplier will be come up through -- will be reviewed or changed every, typically, 2 years, sometimes every year, but normally 2 years. So there's a constant stream of renewals happening at any one time. We'll be going for them all, literally everyone.

And COVID's been...

And I think, in some instances, Jim, in some instances, some of the bigger countries, say, if you take Nigeria, where there might be 60 million, 70 million tests, take 50 million tests in a year, the screening can be split between 2 companies.

And then the last one for me. COVID's definitely been a plus on certain products. But then as you indicated, it's definitely put some pressure on things like your diabetes sales and some of your other products. Are you seeing that pressure starting to subside in Q1 and you expect the diabetes business comes back to at least 2019 levels in 2021?

Yes. I mean, if you look at diabetes, for example, we -- our instrument placements collapsed in quarter -- during the months of April and May, just completely collapsed to virtually nothing. It began to recover somewhat in quarter 3 and more in quarter 4. But like we still during quarter 4, we were still at 50% of normalized placement levels. Then for reagents, we'd characterize it at about 90% of normal, right, which actually -- we think we're surprised at how strong it is, given that people are trying to avoid going to hospitals or indeed doctors if at all possible. But that's what we've been achieving. We're absolutely confident that the market will return, recover completely in the post pandemic environment as soon as we kind of have a significant -- as soon as majority of the people are vaccinated.

The next question comes from [William Lapp] with private investor.

John, nice to have you aboard. I got a few questions. Number one, I presume you did not qualify for the second draw on the PPP loans. You didn't meet the criteria? Have you applied for the second draw of the PPP loans?

In some of our businesses, we did. In 2, I think, we did qualify but not for the others.

Okay. So you've submitted. Have you got...

(inaudible)

Yes, you got to meet the 20% test, but did you...

Yes.

Okay. Have you got the loan yet? Or you haven't got it yet?

Yes, we have. We received 2 amounts.

And how much was that?

$1.7 million.

$1.7 million, which you anticipate to be for...

$1.7 million.

Yes. And don't forget about the employee tax credit too when you do that.

It's difficult to predict at this stage where it's going in terms of the forgiveness. But I thought the first step is we receive the funds.

Okay. Well, that's good. Ronan, could you kind of -- last quarter -- the third quarter, you had more of a profit than you did on the fourth quarter. Didn't you -- weren't you at $22 million on the third quarter versus the fourth quarter? What are the comparisons of the third quarter of 2020 versus the fourth quarter of 2020? Did you not -- you didn't make as much money in the fourth quarter?

No, we didn't. Not after -- so I suppose, yes, the moving parts, Bill, would be an increase in SG&A costs in quarter 4 and I think a reduction in margin as well. So they are the main contributing factors to that.

So now with...

(inaudible)

Yes. Pardon? Did you say something, Ronan?

No, go ahead, Bill. You're going to ask something.

Yes. So...

I was just about to say but...

Go ahead. You say it first.

I was going to say that, yes, there was a strong profitability and there was cash -- there was strong cash generation, the cash going from $19 million to $27 million.

Okay. Well, that's good because we have the big loan coming up. Then could you explain a little bit more on the COVID, where you said this quarter may not be as good as the fourth quarter. But isn't your -- is your COVID consists of sending out supplies that they use for the swabs, et cetera. But what about -- and that you're doing pretty well, I think on. And then how is your testing, your one that's running through the lab? Have those produced much revenue that you develop for the laboratory rather than the rapid tests? Has that been successful? Or where are you at with that?

Well, we're selling in the United States. And now we're open -- we are now -- the European Union has opened up to us as well. We're working our way on that. I think in terms of significant potential, I think the bigger potential is in the rapid test, is in the Point-of-Care tests rather than the laboratory. And as you know, I outlined where we are with the rapid antibody. And of course, we're working on the antigen test as well. So I think the more significant revenue potential lies there in Point-of-Care than in the other. I also outlined to you that we were doing very well in monoclonal antibodies and (inaudible).

Could you explain the difference between the -- is there 2 rapid tests, that one is an antibody, I was just kind of looking at the 2 rapid tests you're doing -- the rapid tests you're doing for the COVID. Is there 2 of them? One is the blood test, right?

Yes.

And then what's the other one then?

Yes. So the antibody test -- okay. So yes. So we've got 2 tests. We've got an antibody test, which runs just exactly like a HIV test, right? And so basically, you take -- you use a spring-loaded Lancet, you get a drop of blood, right, with a finger prick. And you put that sample then like 50 -- 30 microliters, you basically put it basically on to the cassette, add 4 drops of wash solution and within 12 minutes, you get a result. So that's an antibody test that tells whether or not you've got basically -- and in fact, it tells you whether you've previously had COVID or not.

The other test we're developing -- and that test is very close, right? So as I said, we expect to get an EUA from the FDA basically during quarter 2, right? So basically, within the next 3 months, we expect to be in the market with that product. The other test we talked about is an antigen test, right? So a lot of publicity about antigen tests. And an antigen test basically detects whether you actually have, at a particular moment in time, got COVID.

Okay. So it's like the Alere test. It's like the Abbott tests that are out there, the Q and whatever that is, right? Those other tests?

It's like Abbott -- yes, it's the same really as Abbott's test or Quidel's test, the antigen test. So we're working on that. We're making very good progress. We're not giving time lines. We just don't want to tie ourselves into time lines, and I would be fair to -- not to overpromise, but we're confident in developing a high-quality test, which can be manufactured in high volume in our automated systems of manufacturing facility here in Ireland. We already can manufacture in high volume, and we're confident basically of developing a good test, a very, very good antigen test, quality test for the long term.

Well, that sounds good. So I mean there's quite a market for that. And I mean, that's what people have to go like to go to the airport, they have to go to another country, they have to have the test 72 hours, that test will be performed, an antigen test, right? Like if you're going to go from the United States, maybe to Hawaii, you got to have a test before you get on the airplane 72 hours before. That test would be used to say you can go and you're safe, right? An antigen test?

Yes. Well that test is normally -- that normally is a PCR test. The advantage of the antigen test is, for example, it can be done literally at the point of embarkation. I mean it only takes 12 minutes. So it can be done on the spot. You need the PCR test before you travel, but you have to get it done 30 -- 24, 36 hours earlier.

Okay. So given your whole -- yes, that's very helpful for the distinction. So given where you're at in 2021, what do you look for? What do you see as the rainbow coming forward as to where Trinity is really going to shine without giving any guidance. Where do you look for the big upsurge?

I think the most exciting thing at the moment for us is our TrinScreen product. So basically, we have been a dominant force in Africa with HIV testing -- screening. We have the HIV confirmatory testing for 15 years now. And we're now entering a market, which is multiple times bigger, which is a screening market with an absolutely superb product. And we think we can take a big share there. There are 170 million of these tests being run every year in Africa. And we intend taking and are confident of taking a decent share of that business.

Okay. And that's pretty -- and that will be pretty profitable. Pardon?

Absolutely. Yes, absolutely, yes. And beyond that, we would be very excited about our COVID range of products because we think, although as people -- as the entire population becomes vaccinated, it's not going to be a huge problem, but COVID is precisely not going away. And so we think we have a suite of products for the long term.

Okay. That's good. And I presume that you're thinking very heavily on a repayment of that. Is that $100 million due in April of 2022? Is that a target date for the loan?

Yes.

I appreciate the progress you're making and keep up the good work.

Bill, thank you so much.

Thank you, Bill. Okay. We're just going to -- operator, we're just going to take a last question and then wrap up the call.

The last question comes from [Lubos Taragel], a private investor.

I guess, from the U.S. here. Just a quick question on that 4% senior note. I think the prior caller asked the same question. But he didn't really let you finish. So what -- my question is, what are the plans for -- with senior note, it seems like it's coming due in May of 2022.

I should say that it's obviously a matter that we've given some considerable thought, both in the management team and as a Board. We have a number of options available to us. I mean the redemption date is still some time away and when you've got time to determine what the optimal approach would be. You can probably understand that I'm unlikely to, on a conference call, in an open conference call, to give you our most intimate thoughts on it, you'll appreciate that probably wouldn't be a great idea. You will, however, note, for example, that our cash balance increased from $19 million to $27 million, which obviously is a very positive development in the context of the pending maturity of that note. I don't mean to be obscure in my response, but I think that's about the highest I can reasonably go.

Thanks very much. There seems to be no more questions. So if I could just wrap up the call now and say, thank you very much for your support and your interest, and look forward to talking to you actually not so many weeks away because this is a small gap to our quarter 1 results. So thank you, and good morning.

Thank you, everybody. Have a good day.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.