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| Statement |
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| As Rod mentioned, we are starting to see positive indicators for future revenue growth for the cell processing platform |
| And so we feel pretty good that that's an indication that from an inventory destocking perspective, things have kind of normalized |
| This is our mission and I'm convinced more than ever that BioLife is in an excellent position to benefit as this space matures, expanding upon our already dominant share of the market and offering diversified exposure to the nascent industry which we expect to grow at a 20% to 25% CAGR through 2033 |
| With encouraging early signs that the macro headwinds facing the industry may have begun to subside, we similarly saw evidence of stabilization and momentum in the CGT industry and our business as demonstrated by our fourth quarter cell processing platform revenue growing 11% sequentially over Q3 and across our top 50 biopreservation media customers, who account for 90% of total media revenue growing 14% compared to the third quarter |
| Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 increased sequentially by $3.8 million from Q3, largely due to higher revenue from our self-processing platform, reduced freezer R&D cost, and decreased personnel cost, and was the first positive quarterly adjusted EBITDA for the year |
| However, excluding prior year COVID-related revenue, this platform grew a strong 61% as Garrie Richardson's team did an excellent job of replacing the lost COVID revenue |
| On a more macro industry note, 2023 was a breakthrough year for CGT approvals in the US |
| So, in closing, I'd like to say that despite the relatively cautious outlook for 2024 that we're providing at this stage, we do strongly believe that the fundamental thesis remains intact and that the company is very well positioned to take advantage of the underlying growth drivers of what is still a very nascent CGT market to drive revenue and profitability, not only this year, but in years to come |
| In addition to our strong market position in approved therapies, we believe there are currently more than 230 active US commercially sponsored clinical trials and estimate that our biopreservation media is embedded in more than 70% of those trials |
| We have an excellent relationship with them and are kind of their go-to when it comes to expanded storage needs |
| This initial cash outflow will be offset by the elimination of future cash burn and certain long-term debt, as well as future product warranty liabilities, while materially improving our overall 2024 financial performance and margin profile |
| It has been a busy four months since rejoining the company as CEO, and I'm encouraged by our team's ability to navigate one of the more challenging environments for the life sciences industry in recent memory, not to mention their consistent execution throughout the organizational changes related to our strategic refocusing on higher margin recurring revenue streams |
| Adjusted gross margin increased approximately 450 basis points sequentially, largely due to increased cell processing revenue and product mix |
| As we progress through 2024, we're committed to delivering increases in revenue, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA both in absolute terms and as a percent of revenue |
| This momentum continued into the first quarter of 2024 with the recent approval of Iovance's groundbreaking TIL-based therapy, Amtagvi, an industry first which we support with two of our biopreservation media products |
| We have amassed a class-defining portfolio of products to improve quality and reduce risk in the manufacture and delivery of these novel therapies |
| Our full year results were certainly impacted by these challenges, but our initiatives to divest the freezer product lines and refocus helped us exit the year with positive momentum |
| We have earned a high level of trust with our marquee customer base and operate in an environment with limited credible competition, specifically in the area of biopreservation |
| One of them, the buyer for Stirling, knows the business extremely well |
| Over time, BioLife has become the industry standard in terms of biopreservation media and has established itself as a leading provider of premium bioproduction tools and services, the critical picks and shovels that support the fast-growing cell and gene therapy industry |
| And then on the media side of things, it's good to see it pick up sequentially |
| So that's an opportunity for growth here as we go through the year |
| We believe our biopreservation media is the industry standard and intend to leverage that market position to drive adoption of the other tools and services in our portfolio |
| So I think there's good news there that the first half of the year might be a bit flat compared to the second half of last year, but that there could be an uptake there |
| In addition, we expect revenue, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA growth in 2024 |
| What I would say is when we look at a customer like Iovance, who probably had a pretty good heads up that things were going their way, their 2023 purchases were nicely above 2022 and their projected 2024 is also nicely above 2023 |
| Excluding COVID-related revenue from Q4 of 2022, revenue in Q4, 2023 increased 26% as the COVID-related revenue was backfilled |
| I think where we do have the opportunity to actually move the needle from a revenue perspective is the cross-selling of the tools that we acquired from the Sexton acquisition and layering those into the market position that we have on the media side |
| You're guiding to kind of single-digit growth year-over-year, but obviously much better growth versus kind of the second half trends |
| It is early and as we have said, we will need to continue to work closely with our customers to manage inventory to normalize levels, which we believe positions us well for what could be a sustained recovery as 2024 progresses |
| Statement |
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| Our 2023 freezer and thaw platform revenue declined 23% or $15.1 million from 2022, primarily due to a difficult capital equipment environment and the competitive disadvantage generated by the divestiture process |
| As we look back on an undeniably challenging year for the CGT industry, we recognize that BioLife was not alone as companies large and small felt the impact of inventory destocking, a constrained funding environment, and weaknesses in China |
| We reported Q4 revenue of $32.7 million, representing a decrease of 26% year-over-year and excluding COVID-related revenue from Q4 of 2022, the decline was 23% |
| As we look ahead, we're taking a cautious approach toward our 2024 revenue guidance, despite certain customer conversations which suggest some growing optimism around improving market conditions in the second half of the year |
| Freezers and thaw systems platform revenue for the fourth quarter was $11.4 million, a decrease of 35% over the same period in 2022 |
| Looking across our platforms, for the full year of 23, our cell processing platform revenue declined 4% to $65.8 million from 2022 due to a 6% decrease in our biopreservation media revenue, which was partially offset by a 9% increase in our other cell processing tools which include our CellSeal, hPL and CT automated fill product lines |
| Our full year 2023 biostorage and services platform revenue decreased 2% to $25.9 million |
| Turning to our biostorage and services platform, revenue for the fourth quarter was $6.6 million, a decrease of 1% over the same period in 2022 |
| Our adjusted EBITDA decreased primarily due to lower biopreservation media revenue |
| Total revenue for 2023 was $143.3 million, an 11% decrease compared to 2022 |
| Excluding COVID-related revenue from Q4, 2022, revenue in Q4, 2023 decreased 32% |
| The year-over-year decrease was primarily related to a $6.1 million decrease, or 35% in our freezers and thaw systems platform and a $5.4 million, or 27% decrease in our cell processing platform, reflecting the industry headwinds in destocking in 2023 |
| And talking about the Q4, the 11% sequential growth in cell processing, can you provide any color on the gross margins in Q4? It seemed a bit lighter than we had expected, and also in light of the growth in cell processing |
| Ex-COVID revenue decreased 4% for the year as there was no COVID-related revenue in 2023 |
| Admittedly, [Technical Issues] and last year was a tough year and I don't want to get ahead out in front of our ski tips too much |
| Our GAAP net loss was $13.4 million in Q4 |
| And we're talking about seven-figure orders, right, which was the major reason or half the reason that we had such a cliff drop from Q2 to Q3 last year |
| All in all, this has been a difficult and time-consuming process and we expect no net proceeds and in fact, will realize an initial cash outflow |
| I think the reality is around media revenue, that the opportunity to drive revenue with existing customers is very limited as it relates to media revenue because they're going to use what they're going to use |
| In 2023, our top 20 media customers accounted for 78% of media revenue and were up slightly year-over-year by 1%, and our all other category decreased by a total of 26% |
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