Christian Ehmann of Warburg Research asked for the rationale behind the decision to sell the Toulouse JPOD facility at this specific time.
CEO Christian Wojczewski responded that the sale is a direct and timely execution of the new strategy for the Just Evotec Biologics business that was communicated to the market in April, emphasizing that the timing is precisely aligned with their strategic plan.
Christian Ehmann from Warburg Research asked about the outlook for Evotec's business segments, questioning if the Q1 trend of underperformance in Shared R&D and overperformance in Just-Evotec Biologics (JEB) would persist. He also inquired whether widespread layoffs in the biotech and pharma sectors are creating more outsourcing opportunities for Evotec.
CEO Christian Wojczewski confirmed the full-year guidance remains, as the segment mix resulted in slightly better-than-expected revenues overall. He noted the market for Shared R&D remains soft with no new signals of change. Regarding industry layoffs, Wojczewski described it as a 'double-edged sword,' where cautious spending is a negative, but the resulting need to outsource work that is no longer done in-house presents a clear opportunity for Evotec.
Christian Ehmann inquired about the persistence of divergent performance between the Shared R&D and Just-Evotec Biologics segments, and whether recent layoffs in the biotech and pharma sectors could create more CRO opportunities for Evotec.
CEO Christian Wojczewski confirmed the full-year guidance remains intact despite the mix shift, with Shared R&D's soft market persisting as expected. Regarding industry layoffs, he noted it's a dual effect: while cautious spending is a headwind, it also creates opportunities for Evotec to take on outsourced work.
Christian Ehmann asked about customer concentration risk beyond BMS and Sandoz and requested clarification on what the 'biology' business area entails within the Shared R&D segment's downturn. He also followed up on the expected revenue trajectory from the BMS partnership in the coming years.
CSO Cord Dohrmann stated that BMS contributes around 10% of top-line revenue and is not considered a concentration risk, and that collaborations with BMS are expected to deliver similar or growing revenues going forward. CBO Matthias Evers explained that 'biology' refers to biological characterization work and that the downturn was concentrated in more transactional areas. He also noted they are broadening their customer base.