Earnings Sentiment

Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.

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Sentiment Distribution

   

Earnings Call Transcript Word Cloud

     

Bullish Statements during Earnings call

Statement
We are very proud of our end-to-end shared R&D service platforms
And if we reflect a little bit on this year, you see that we are growing strong again with the cyberattack in the rear mirror now
If you go to page number 24, let me come to governance, because having the best people around us is key for our long-term success and that’s why we are so proud of our existing Supervisory Board, but we are also so proud that we are permanently able to upgrade our Supervisory Board with people who have shown that they are shaping the industry with their intellect, with their personality and also with their business acumen
So one level down into the various types of businesses, as Werner has said earlier, and you have seen in the presentation, we see strong growth on the high technology driven, PanOmics driven type of partnerships
So we have a spread of demand, but overall, we see a strong positioning of our services
So we see here exactly what Matthias explained before that the market dynamic is under pressure, but we are having good progress and good long-term projects that fill our pipeline in the short term already
That’s why we are so proud of our partners, and the partnered pipeline that we are building here
For example, the continued validation of our Just-Evotec Biologics business, where we have an excellent pipeline building moment that we witnessed altogether here
So bottomline, more -- buyers’ market from a position of the buyers and we adjust, of course, our strategies, but we see healthy demand and as a foundation for our growth
So strong progress in our pipeline building efforts is highlighting value creation into the future
This is the foundation of stability into our long-term growth
So, yes, we are going strong again and if you go to page number six, this also is important because in times of short-term volatility, long-term goals and plans are more important than ever
And when I say we grow strong again, reporting double digit growth of 14% on topline and 13% on bottomline, despite the cyberattack is a great result
Maybe to expand a little bit, because I think the observation -- I mean, I agree with your observation and we feel we see significant momentum on the basis of the validation we have now seen through recent deals from the biotech side, on the biosimilar side, on the public -- with the Department of Defense on the public side
You have also talked about some cost mitigation efforts and delivering improved operating leverage
First, in the pursuit of leaner process across all our sites, we are making great progress
A robust underlying base business, as well as new strategic collaboration with Janssen and the expanded collaborations with BMS, have contributed to this excellent performance
So that’s why we are very confident in doing that
Moving to the next slide, group revenues for the first nine months of 2023 demonstrates a robust 14% increase, reaching €580.1 million, fueled by a diverse business portfolio in a challenging environment
We still maintain a strong equity position, ensuring a solid foundation for future investments and maintaining financial flexibility
Our business dynamics are looking good
Key growth drivers included our BMS/Celgene programs and the successful delivery of work packages as part of our new technology partnership with Sandoz
But I already mentioned that our differentiated technology platforms are key drivers for our long-term and future success
And if you go to page 22, we want to thank the analysts who are recognizing what we are doing here, because a company that gets upgrades by doing more for the planet, I think, is also good for every portfolio of an investor to be held
I am here together with my team, which you see on slide number three of this presentation with Laetitia, with Matthias, with Craig and with Cord, and I want to thank them very much for driving resilience into our company stronger than ever before
Our resilience was evident in our financial performance with Q3 group revenue approaching €200 million and nine months group revenue reaching €580.1 million, reflecting here again an increase of 14% compared to prior year
Slide eight, as depicted in this slide, we had very strong start to the year with revenues in Q1 2023 at €213.6 million, which is an implied growth of 30% versus Q1 2022
This is enormously efficiently leveraging our R&D platforms into pipeline building efforts
So, it’s fantastic that Rupert will join this company and you will see that this is also great for not only Evotec, but also our partnered network
Broadly, I mean, we showed significant growth in the demanding market
       

Bearish Statements during earnings call

Statement
Throughout these challenging quarters, our drug discovery and development business were impacted
So first of all, on the cost side, of course, the Execute segment as we report it carries the vast majority of the fixed cost of the group, the buildings, the people, the infrastructure and so on and we unable to transact on that for some weeks, of course, has a negative impact
Our adjusted group EBITDA, which does not include external one of cyber-related costs for the nine months ended September 2023 amounted to €50.2 million, which is the result of missed opportunities after the cyberattack, as well as higher cost managed adverse effects of the incident
That on the biotech side, we have seen muted demand given the low number of Series A, Series B funding
But then, of course, there are certain services that are much more commoditized and we, of course, have also seen how some CROs reduced their forecast very recently
In both Q2 and Q3, we confronted the repercussions of the cyber incident, which necessitated a brief shutdown in Q2 to safeguard our partners and stakeholders
This event resulted in missed opportunities of approximately €70 million
I think maybe we are a bit cautious here and cautiousness comes, especially throughout our development business, because the development business, which, quote-unquote, is somewhere between €150 million and €200 million total capacity, is the latest that was going fully online after the cyberattack
Firstly, you affirmed your double-digit revenue growth expectations for 2024 in your opening remarks, but the cyberattack this year has, obviously, depressed 2023 revenues
And of course, those areas suffer very sharp deteriorations due to the cyberattack and it’s very hard to fully catch up
And I just wanted to understand why it’s so large and whether the change in accounting to remove the cyberattack cost means that the underlying EBITDA expectations may have come down a bit from the last time that you updated the market
This change is attributable mainly to the net loss, resulting in an equity ratio of 50.6%, slightly decreased from the 52.6% reported end of last year
Unpartnered R&D expenses were €45.7 million, 10% lower than the comparable prior year period
Of course, biotech funding plays a role, if you also want to have a sentence on that when it comes to our underlying service business at this stage and we have no -- made no doubt about that, that the market is softer than what we have seen in the past, but again, we see the offering of Evotec, especially from our integrated services, as the solution for high quality data points that are fundable for the venture community and not part of the problem
But I also want to focus on just the Execute segment excluding Just, obviously, that’s been a little bit more challenged
On the cyberattack, I remember you guys had a filing where you indicated there were some potential unknowns, which could impact costs in the future
But to finish on where we are now, of course, since Q3, operations have been fully back to full service, albeit with some remaining drag in productivity due to sort of complexity of data handling, while we come fully out of the details of cyber
So if my numbers are correct, it implies a little bit of a step down from 3Q to 4Q
Obviously, you have had all sorts of issues to deal with
Can you give us a sense for any potential additional costs related to the cyberattack or is that completely resolved? And then the second question on Just Biologics and apologies if you discussed it already, I was having technical difficulties, had to dial back in
   

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