Cryoport - Q2 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cryoport second quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Todd Frommer, from KCSA Strategic Communications. Please go ahead.

Todd Fromer (Managing Partner, Principal, and President)

Thank you, Operator. Before we begin today, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call contains certain forward-looking statements. All statements that address our operating performance, events, or developments that we expect or anticipate occurring in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and not on information currently available to our management team. Our management team believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, because such statements speak only as of the date when made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events, and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in Item 1A, Risk Factors, and elsewhere in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and those described from time to time in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Jerrell Shelton, Chief Executive Officer of Cryoport. Jerry, the floor is yours.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Thank you, Todd. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining our second quarter earnings call today. With us this afternoon is our Chief Financial Officer, Robert Stefanowicz, our Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mark Sawicki, and our Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Thomas Heinzen. As a reminder, we have uploaded our second quarter 2024 in review document to our website. It can be found under Investor Relations in the News and Events section. This document provides a review of our financial and operational performance and a general business outlook. If you've not had a chance to read it, I would encourage you to go to our website and download it. I will provide you with a brief update on our business, and then we'll take your questions.

During the second quarter of 2024, we saw continued progress across all business units as revenue from each improved sequentially. Our revenue from the support of commercial cell and gene therapies especially stood out this quarter, increasing 51% year-over-year and 20% sequentially, reflecting strong demand for these treatments. This growth demonstrates another step in the ramp of these life-saving therapies. Turning to MVE Biological Solutions, our primary life sciences products business, we saw modest sequential improvement for the quarter as we continued to experience lower overall product demand as compared to previous years. We anticipate continued softness in demand for MVE products for the remainder of 2024 and extending into 2025 as government, academic, and industrial customers continue to delay capital expenditures and leverage their existing footprints of cryogenic systems capacities.

We have executed strong cost management across our manufacturing facilities at MVE and aligned the direct workforce and current market demand and reduced SG&A expenses to ensure continuing positive cash flow contribution from MVE. Longer term, we expect demand to improve as excess cryogenic systems capacities are absorbed. This is not an if, in our view, it's a matter of when, as cryogenic systems must eventually be purchased to store biological commodities that are created and/or produced every day globally for research, experimental, clinical, and commercial purposes.

Based on the current softness of the demand for our life sciences products and our anticipated sequential revenue growth for life sciences services, we are revising our full year 2024 revenue guidance to the range of $225 million-$235 million, with revenue expected to continue to improve progressively over the next two quarters and into 2025. As we mentioned on our last earnings call, we have been implementing cost reduction and co- capital alignment or realignment measures, as well as adjusting the building, the build-out pace of our global capabilities and infrastructure to be more in line with current market environments. Our team has been working diligently on this, and we have made substantial progress in implementing many of these actions.

We anticipate our cost reduction initiatives will be fully implemented by the end of 2024 and will positively impact Cryoport's financial results for the second half of 2024 and approximately $22 million, with approximately $22 million in annualized cost savings, moving us toward our goal of profitability and a return to positive Adjusted EBITDA in 2025. Our cost reduction and capital realignment plans will enable us to continue to successfully service our customers and execute on our key growth initiatives as we optimize our operational efficiencies across our global operations. Through these actions, which are in process, we intend to drive profitable growth in our key markets, enhance operating performance, and generate positive cash flow. Our entire management and leadership team is committed to ensuring the success of this plan, and we intend to execute on it swiftly and effectively.

In addition to our cost-cutting initiatives and cost realignment plans, we're monitoring our operations daily to adjust for any near-term obstacles related to the overall industry and economic environment, while maintaining a long-term strategic view of our business. In addition to driving continued sequential revenue growth, we also intend to maintain a strong balance sheet position. We ended the quarter with a $427 million cash balance, and we expect to generate positive cash flow through the actions we have underway. Our cost reduction and capital preservation initiatives take into consideration our key strategic growth plans, which include our global supply chain center network and bioservices solutions, as well as our IntegriCell platform for providing cryopreservation services, to ensure we balance our commitment to long-term profitable growth in the current market conditions. Our team is well aware of the short-term challenges we're facing.

Despite these, we remain confident in a broad market recovery for the life sciences industry, with the exception of China, which we think will likely remain challenged through 2025. Our current full year 2024 revenue outlook includes sequential improvements across all our service offerings, driven in part by the ramp of clinical and commercial cell and gene therapies we currently support. We remain confident in our market-leading products business and the long-term growth of the life sciences. Biotech funding has improved, new therapy approvals have quickened in pace, and Cryoport is well positioned to benefit from this as our markets start picking up. The new services and products we are launching this year will further diversify our revenue streams and allow us to comprehensively support our clients.

As I mentioned earlier, we have been and are executing on our cost reduction and capital realignment initiatives, and when combined with our expected return to year-over-year revenue growth for the second half of 2024, this should significantly push our goal of profitability. This concludes my prepared remarks. Now, I will ask the operator to open the lines for your questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Tejas Savant of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.

Edmund Debler (SVP, International Client Advisor, and Senior Portfolio Manager)

Hi, guys, this is Edmond from Morgan Stanley. Thank you for taking my questions. First to start on the guidance. On the call, you guys noted the anticipated sequential revenue growth in services and the expected continued softness in products were factored into the reduced guidance. So I was wondering if you could help me better understand the magnitude of each impact relative to the $17 million reduction at the midpoint. How much was it driven by the lower life science service ramp versus a continued muted environment for MVE?

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Robert, do you want to take that question?

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah, no, absolutely. Look, in general, obviously, forecasting has been challenging for us, but also many other companies in the life sciences, you know, products and services business. When we look at the change in guidance, you know, from original guidance, it's about a reduction of 6.9%, midpoint to midpoint. And that's driven, you know, as we outlined, certainly by the fact that our product side, which is really MVE Biological Solutions, is not, you know, picking up in demand, not picking up in revenue. And we don't expect that to really pick up in 2024, but we do expect to see sequential growth starting in 2025, and that's really without, you know, the expectation that China is gonna come back.

As you recall, earlier, you know, in 2023 and 2022, we had significant business out of the Chinese market, which has dropped in Q1 of 2023. So we do expect that, you know, to continue to be, you know, pretty much flat, you know, you look at the remainder of the year. Services is expected to grow. I will remain, maybe just highlight one issue on the product side. We did see sequential growth. So Q2 over Q1 for the product side of our business, we did see some sequential growth, but it's not enough of a trend to be able to forecast, you know, an increase in demand.

On the services side, you know, as you've seen in our earnings release, we've seen some you know, significant growth on the support of our commercial revenue clients. So for the cell and gene therapy space, that's very, very robust, both growth year-over-year of 51% and sequentially of 20%. And then overall, services has grown. Bioservices has grown, you know, the other service elements of our offering has grown, and we're expecting that to continue as well. But we have taken a more conservative stance. I think, you know, coming out of J.P. Morgan earlier in the year, people were very kind of optimistic, cautiously optimistic, with a waiting on the optimism. You know, the funding side has increased, and everyone was really expecting a more significant increase in the second half in particular.

but I think most of the companies have realized that while there will be a growth in the second half, it's not gonna be as significant as initially expected. Albeit, if you look at advancements in the cell and gene therapy side, if you look at the funding side, that continues to be robust, and eventually, hopefully, that will, you know, derive a trend towards more aggressive growth.

Edmund Debler (SVP, International Client Advisor, and Senior Portfolio Manager)

Got it. And then, I guess sticking on the guidance, could you provide some color on what provides you with confidence in the second half and, your revised guidance? Maybe some color on how orders and backlogs trended for the product side, and some color on how new trials are ramping up versus expectations on the services side would be helpful.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

John, I think if you know, obviously, we have spent a lot of time on the product side of our business, which is significantly driven by our, you know, very significant distributors around the world, as well as our direct clients. We spend a lot of time with them to really understand exactly where demand is coming from, what's to be expected, and hence we've taken a more muted approach on the expectation for the second half. I think it's a little bit different on the services side, in discussions with our clients. Specifically related to the cell and gene therapy space, we do have, you know, weekly discussions with the expectation of the commercial launches and expectations of the commercial therapies we're currently already supporting.

As you've seen in our earnings release, we've also reported, you know, a record number of clinical trials. So we've seen the growth in clinical trials year-over-year, as well as sequentially. And, you know, we've seen more therapies that are getting ready for BLA, MAA filings as well as approvals. So the signal is certainly a fairly robust view in terms of the growth expectations. I think a lot of the growth is expected to really come in in 2025 and beyond, but we certainly expect, you know, the services side to continue to grow progressively in 2024.

Edmund Debler (SVP, International Client Advisor, and Senior Portfolio Manager)

Got it. Super helpful. And one last one from me. On the new cost actions that you guys talked about today, you guys outlined delays or cancellations in new facilities while also taking into consideration key growth initiatives. I think earlier this year, you noted expectations for two IntegriCell sites to come online, a global supply chain center to come online this year, and two more to come on in 2025 and 2026. Can you clarify which ones have been delayed and which ones have been canceled? And how will these actions impact your ability to establish the infrastructure and capacity ahead of the expected cell and gene therapy inflection?

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

These fall under Mark, Mark's operations, so I'm gonna turn that question to Mark.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

Yeah, thanks, Jerry. Yeah, the IntegriCell facilities, both of them are on track. In fact, they will both be opening their doors for contract business starting at the end of this quarter. So they're on track, and we anticipate them starting to contribute from a revenue standpoint, although nominal, obviously, in 2024, but they are gonna have their doors opened. The other facilities that you had discussed, all of those are continuing to progress. However, we have modified some of the pacing of the infrastructure in some of those facilities and are bringing high demand aspects online and deferring areas that we can, you know, cover through other facilities until the markets strengthen. So, there isn't any cancellation of facilities.

There is some differences in the pacing of the service areas within some of those facilities.

Edmund Debler (SVP, International Client Advisor, and Senior Portfolio Manager)

Got it. Thank you for the time.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Knight from KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Paul Knight (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

If we look back on MVE, Jerry, I guess it was kind of like a lot of capital equipment spending in early 2023. They had. You know, companies not aware of when COVID would end, burning up budgets. What do you think were the factors behind this tough comp on MVE, and what do you think a long-term growth rate looks like there?

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Oh, it's a good question, Paul, and certainly we've analyzed it. We know a lot more about, you know, what happened now than we did, you know, several months ago. During the COVID period, there was free money, as everyone knows. I mean, money was basically at zero. There were a lot of government grants, and there was a lot of fear buying, and so capacities built up in the marketplace. In fact, actually, we actually have seen some product that was bought during that time still in crates. But it was built up. We did not know at the time that that was what was happening.

We thought it was a natural thing, because we had done our due diligence and looked over ten years' history of MVE. So this is an unprecedented, you know, dip, as COVID was an unprecedented condition. But that capacity is being used up, because we are in conversations with our customers, we're in conversations with our distributors, and that capacity is being used up. So we know that it'll return to a growth rate. China will not return, we don't think, until, you know, after 2025, most likely. But those were the factors. It was the free money, it was the government grants, and it was some fear buying. And then all of a sudden, money costs, you know, money cost was up.

It was 6%, there were no government grants, and people were putting the brakes on capital expenditures, and they had extra capacity. So it's just adjusting. This is a great business. It continues to produce positive cash flow. We can scale up and down in that business. It is a demand, it is perpetual. There is no alternative to cryogenic temperatures for the storage of biological commodities.

Paul Knight (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

A question for Mark, and that would be: you know, we see the funding data for cell and gene therapy from ARM and others. My guess would be it takes a while for new funding to translate into volume for you. Is that a fair assumption, and-

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

It is. Yeah, I mean, obviously, we talked about that last earnings call. You know, what I see as very positive, to be honest, Paul, is the sequential increase in clinical trial count.

Paul Knight (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

I think that's very indicative that funding is starting to matriculate down into execution, and, you know, I anticipate continued, you know, positive directionality as it relates to the clinical activity, which is the earliest sign of that money pushing back into the system.

Paul Knight (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of David Larsen of BTIG. Your line is now open.

David Larsen (Managing Director and the Healthcare IT & Digital Health Analyst)

Hi. Can you talk about the number of commercial products that you're now supporting, the revenue contribution from them in the quarter? And then just any color on China would be helpful. Thank you.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Yeah, we can, David. We'll start with Robert with the numbers, and then Mark will take on the other aspects of that question.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah. So just on the commercial revenue, so if you look at commercial revenue for the quarter, we had $6.5 million, so about a 51% increase year-over-year and a 20% increase sequentially. So obviously, strong performance on the therapies that we're currently supporting. You know, Mark will talk a little bit about some of the more recent announcements on approvals that are not reflected in our Q2 performance, but will be reflected in the future, you know, the quarters out. So, you know, strong commercial revenue. We continue to see, you know, a good pipeline going forward as well. So Mark, do you want to comment?

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

Sure. Yeah. Thanks, Robert. Yeah, you know, if you look at the Wall Street analysts, you know, they're obviously forecasting good consistent ramps in the second half of 2024 and 2025 for the Kite-Gilead products, the BMS products, the JNJ, Legend products, Sarepta, they've got their label expansion, Bluebird, modest. And then we now have, obviously, Iovance coming online with moderate volume, and then CRISPR Vertex, which is just starting. And then obviously, subsequent, late in the quarter, we had a couple of additional approvals, although they won't be, you know, based on market feedback, significant volume drivers.

The move to earlier line therapies for some of these guys is going to be substantial, and will continue to drive really, really nice, you know, CAGRs on the commercial space. And if you look at it, you know, I mean, you know, you know, the BMS Abecma product that went to earlier line, they now have a patient population potential of 80,000 patients a year, and Carvykti is now at 140,000. You know, so if you think about that, that's, you know, once they address the patient accessibility issue, that's gonna drive continued nice improvements in volume. In addition, there's another 2 potential approvals this year in 2024, you know, which is obviously substantial, and positive.

So we yeah, I mean, we could also potentially have another seven filings through the balance of the year.

David Larsen (Managing Director and the Healthcare IT & Digital Health Analyst)

Okay, thanks. Thanks very much. Thoughts on China?

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Yeah, with China in the ditch, and that economy is going to stay there for a while, David. We don't think it will improve through 2025.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

At this point, yeah, China, the revenue related to China is very small, so we're just a little above 3% in total revenue, related to China. So the risk there is for us, minimal.

David Larsen (Managing Director and the Healthcare IT & Digital Health Analyst)

Okay, and then just one last quick one. In terms of MVE, any more color on channel demand? Like, where are we seeing the weakness? Is it across the board? Is it certain countries? Is it certain facilities, academic medical centers, research labs, large biopharma entities? Just any more color on where the weakness is? Thanks very much.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Well, it's a weakness in the general market, David, and as I was mentioning earlier, to answering Paul's question, it was—it had to do with, and certainly in the freezer side, it had to do with, with some defensive buying during COVID, some capacity build up in the cryogenic systems across the board, both indoors and in freezers. So, it's pretty—it's pretty much across the board, and it came, and it—we... That weakness right now is just the market, you know, using up the cryogenic systems capacities that have been, that were built up during that COVID period. We are having conversations, more conversations now with larger clients, and the order, the order stream seems to be stabilizing.

We think we're at a base point with, you know, with MVE. MVE, by the way, is still cash flow positive, it still is a contributor, and it's a sound business. It's fully integrated with, or not fully, but it's partially integrated with other parts of our company, like BioStorage, Biologistics, and Bioservices. So it's an important part of our company, and it is profitable.

David Larsen (Managing Director and the Healthcare IT & Digital Health Analyst)

Thanks very much.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Puneet Souda from Leerink Partners. Your line is now open.

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Hey, this is Philip on for Puneet. Thanks for taking my question. Just kind of touching on what you just talked about, could you give just some color on how the order book has been trending for MVE? Like, have month-over-month trends been improving or stabilizing sequentially? And sort of what can you tell us about, like, the exit rate in June or just how demand has been trending there, as you're exiting the quarter?

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

I believe you're asking about-- You're asking about Xindu specifically?

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Overall, MVE overall.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Talking about MVE.

Yeah. Yeah, and, so China demand is at an all-time low. I mean, that, that's your question's around the China demand, correct?

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

No, it's around all of MVE.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

All right.

Paul Knight (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Yeah.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

So restate your question, and I'll answer it.

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Yeah. I just wanted... I was just wondering on sort of just color on how the MVE order book has been trending for, just for, like, that business overall, China and more broadly as well. Just kind of how-

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Okay.

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Month over, yeah.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Okay. So we do follow our order trends, you know, pretty carefully. Our orders are. We think that our order trends are stabilizing, and that they're sound, you know, at this point. The China market, of course, is rather insignificant right now. It's not accounting for more than about, you know, 4% of the business. And then if we look at the freezer and the Dewar ordering trends, they're at a lower level, but they're steady at this point.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah, I just think if you look at, you know, the order intake, while it looks promising, it's just not enough data to say that it's trending, you know, upwards.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

No, we can't say that.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

And then that's, I think, the reality. We do expect it to come back. It's really a question of, you know, when will the demand come back, because we know, you know, MVE is by far the largest provider of cryogenic systems in the global market. So as demand comes back, you know, MVE we will be the beneficiary of that, you know, come back in demand. It is already profitable. We took measures to make sure that it's, you know, generating in the forties from a gross margin perspective and the high teens from an EBITDA perspective. And as volume starts coming back, obviously, that contribution will increase.

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Got it. That makes total sense. Thank you. And then maybe just to follow up, you just touched on Sarepta. There are a lot of different kind of estimates flying around for the label expansion impact. But just kind of wanted to ask, just what is your sense of, like, how meaningful this is for you and kind of what we can assume in terms of, you know, top-line benefit for this year or next year? To your point, there's, like, constraints on the manufacturing capacity and accessibility on, on the therapeutic side. Just wondering sort of how we could think about that.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah. So, you know, if you take a look at the data, you know, with the label expansion, the eligible patient population goes up to about 17,500 patients a year, which is a significant step up. Obviously, you know, we anticipate a notable increase in revenue, you know, predominantly in Q4 and then through 2025. So, too, we're very, very optimistic overall.

Philip Song (VP in Equity Research)

Got it. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Stanton of Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Matthew Stanton (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, thanks. Maybe to start, one for you, Robert. On the positive adjusted EBITDA in 2025, could you just clarify if that assumes a certain level of, of growth or revenues with, with the cost outs? Or are you basically saying that you can get to positive adjusted EBITDA in 2025 without any meaningful top-line expansion? And then just on the $22 million of annualized savings, sounds like some of that will show up here in the back half of the year. Anything you can help us with in terms of pacing for the rest of the year and, and what might start to show up in 3Q and 4Q? Thanks.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah. No, absolutely. I think, look, if you look at the Adjusted EBITDA, you can see that, you know, even in our Q2 performance, you know, sequentially, there was quite a significant improvement in Adjusted EBITDA. So we reduced the EBITDA loss about half, sequentially, quarter-over-quarter. Now, the measures we've taken, both on the products and the services side, were taken, you know, actually, MVE took some of the measures already last year, just in reaction to the slowdown demand. And then we have significant initiatives underway in Q1 and Q2. We expect to have those completed, globally by the end of the year. In terms of, you know, the expectations of positive Adjusted EBITDA for 2025, I think, you know, in terms of the revenue ramp, that's gonna dictate the timing of us reaching that goal.

But we do expect to be able to achieve that, even with a more modest increase in revenues based on the actions that we've taken. And the actions we've taken related to Adjusted EBITDA, that's one part related to, you know, the reduction of FTEs in the organization, the reduction of consultants that have worked for us full-time in some of the non-critical areas. And then we obviously have, from a cash flow perspective, delayed some of the expected capital expenditures to align them more, you know, with the expected growth. So the answer is, yes, you know, we do expect to achieve it. Timing of it will depend on, you know, in part, on the ramp of revenue.

And then for the remainder of the year, if you look at, you know, Q3 and Q4, yeah, I wouldn't expect, you know, more than, say, somewhere around $5 million in total to run through, you know, the second half. But, you know, the fully annualized run rate is expected to be about $22 million. And that's a combination of reductions on the cost of sales side, so on the direct labor and direct cost of sales, as well as the SG&A side

Matthew Stanton (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks. And then maybe going back to one of the questions from earlier, just in terms of the MVE long-term, you know, growth rate. Is there any way you can kind of quantify, you know, how important or how big the growth rate in China was to that business? And I guess, you know, the point behind that is if China, going forward, is a more mature growth market and maybe it's high singles instead of mid-teens. Just trying to kinda think about kind of a structural headwind to MVE's growth rate from, you know, what China attribution had been there historically. Thank you.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

You wanna take that?

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Yeah. Look, I think, you know, if you look at—China's a little bit of a, you know, question, you know, of when they will come back, how strong they will come back. So if you take that kind of out of the picture, and you just expect a very, very modest contribution from China, looking at the MVE growth rate, yeah, we'd certainly expect it to be at higher single digit growth rates. Again, if you look at the rationale for acquiring MVE, it was, one, the vertical integration, the fact that they're the dominant player for cryogenic systems, and the fact that they are, you know, cash generating and profitable. We've maintained, you know, the profitability as a percentage, both from a gross margin and an Adjusted EBITDA perspective.

You know, we've also maintained the strategic global positioning as a leader in the space. So again, as that comes back, so will, you know, the further contribution. Ultimately, you look at our, you know, if you zoom out and look at our model overall, the overall expectation is that services is gonna continue to grow, you know, over time, much more significantly. So it's MVE is not gonna have that same growth rate if you look at 2025, 2026, and 2027, but it will still maintain its leadership and still maintain its strategic importance, in terms of the vertical integration, and, you know, maintain its profitability.

Matthew Stanton (Vice President and Equity Research Analyst)

Super. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Yuan Zhi from B. Riley. Your line is now open.

Yuan Zhi (Managing Director and Senior Healthcare Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you for taking our questions. I just got one. I'm curious to hear any trend you have observed from IVF and the fertility clinics. Was there an increased cryo storage demand from those customers recently? Thank you.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

Yeah, we focus around cryo transportation with reproductive medicine, not cryo storage. We have seen consistent improvement in volumes associated with reproductive medicine over the last seven, eight quarters. That's largely due to our strategy, where we've locked up and established significant relationships with the large clinic networks, and which any action that goes on through them comes through us versus going through intended parents and individuals. So that will continue to drive volume increases in the for the foreseeable future there.

Yuan Zhi (Managing Director and Senior Healthcare Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Any chance you can extend the transportation to, you know, the upstream to have cryo storage services to those customers?

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

It's not something that we're currently evaluating. Our focus in bioservices is really focused around the cell and gene space, and our infrastructure is really built around managing cell and gene product flow, not reproductive medicine material, which is a different strategy and a different approach.

Yuan Zhi (Managing Director and Senior Healthcare Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Thanks for the additional color.

Mark W. Sawicki (Chief Scientific Officer)

Yep.

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of David Saxon of Needham. Your line is now open.

David Saxon (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my questions. Maybe one for Robert. Just on free cash flow, what was that for the quarter? How should we think about cash burn for 2024, for the year? You do have a net cash position, and you've talked here about the restructuring program. But how are you thinking about kind of balancing the investments you've been making, and, you know, continue to make over the next 12, 24 months or so, and then these 2026 converts?

Robert Stefanovich (CFO)

... Yeah, no, it's a good, fairly comprehensive question. But, yeah, no, I look—if you look at the initiatives we've taken, you know, they're quite significant in terms of, you know, really slimming down the organization. You know, as you know, you know, we've built out very, very aggressively over the last couple of years to really establish ourselves, both organically as well as through acquisitions, to establish a global platform, become the leader in the space, to really become the leader of supply chain for cell and gene therapies. So now is the time where we have to really adjust a little bit to the current market, current demand, and that really drove us to implement these initiatives to really drive really profitable revenue, profitable growth. So that's really a kind of a main piece.

If you look at, you know, the cash burn, cash use in operations was about $11.2 million for the first half. CapEx was about $7.8 million, so you can already see that we've dialed down the CapEx expenditure compared to last year. Last year, at the same time, we had spent about $18.3 million in CapEx. So we're taking a number of, you know, number of measures to really drive and protect the cash. You know, we're net debt positive by about $70 million after this transaction. I think if we look at the buyback of the converts, that gave us an ability to buy back $160 million at an 11.5% discount.

And that leaves us with significant dry powder, approximately $250 million cash and short-term investments to operate our business and pursue strategic activities. So we're really well positioned, I think from a balance sheet perspective, from a kind of global operational infrastructure perspective. And it's now on, you know, completing the execution of these plans that we have to drive, you know, more profitable performance within the organization. And as, you know, Jerry and Mark had mentioned, without cutting off any of the key strategic initiatives, growth initiatives that we think will increase our share of wallet with our client base and really further entrench us into the life sciences market and the cell and gene therapy space in particular.

David Saxon (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, that was super helpful, Robert. Maybe just a quick follow-up to that. So you said $11.2 million cash use in the first half. You talked in one of your answers to a previous question about maybe seeing around $5 million in savings in the second half. So for the second half burn, should we be thinking kind of mid-single digits? And then I'll just throw my second question as it relates to guidance. I think the prior guide assumed flat MVE revenue, so I just wanna confirm the main driver or even all of the delta for the new guidance is MVE expectations coming down. And then for MVE, I mean, it, Jerry, you talked about orders stabilizing.

So for the third and fourth quarters, is kind of this $19 million-$20 million range for MVE revenue a good starting point, or what's your level of confidence that orders have indeed stabilized? Thanks so much.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

David, the numbers you quoted are a little bit high. MVE is running at around an $18 million per quarter run rate right now, and we don't anticipate that going up. So it's a little bit high. We do anticipate growth starting in 2025, but we think it's gonna be rather stable for the rest of this year, and then we'll see some sequential growth, you know, beginning in 2025 as that excess capacity is used up. So the company is prepared for that, and I think that's the way it'll look moving forward. But we do have growth in the services business. It's substantial in both Cryoport Systems and CryoPDP, and BioStorage is doing very well as well. So we do have those offsets moving forward.

Yeah, Manny, on your question related to cash used in operations and the cash flow, you'll see that once we file the 10-Q tomorrow, in more detail in the statement of cash flows. But, you know, I'd expect that to go down somewhat in the second half. But you have to have in mind there's gonna be some costs related to the restructuring that we have as well. But yeah, I'd expect it to come down so in the second half, and then obviously within the second half, more significantly in the fourth quarter.

David, I'll address those in general, those points, in, in my closing comments in a few minutes.

David Saxon (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. And if I could just sneak a follow-up question in there, Jerry. You know, you've just mentioned excess capacity as it relates to MVE, talked about kind of fear buying, you know, around the COVID pandemic. I guess, you know, how do you measure that excess capacity? And I'm really trying to get at, like, how confident are you in kind of calling the bottom here and, and calling for growth in 2025? Like, how do you, how do you kind of wrap your head around measuring this excess capacity and kind of working through that? And, and I'll leave it at that. I'll jump back in queue. Thanks so much.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

But David, and that's a question that we struggle with. It's a very good question, and we struggle with it because it's very hard to do. You would actually have to go out to every customer of, of the company to see if they had inventory. We do know some have-- that have had inventory. I know of some that's still in crates right now that was bought during that period of time. So that's very hard. For-- the way we determine that is by looking at order patterns. We judge then our conversations with, our clients and the timing of those. We, the governmental budgets are really important.

So because a lot of institutions are funded from the government, research is funded from the government, these are all users of, and many other biological endeavors are funded by the government. So, government spending is important. So we look at all of those things and try to determine, you know, where we are. But it's an art. It's not a science. It's not absolutely quantitatively driven because we just don't have the visibility on what that capacity buildup is, in fact, in the marketplace.

We're trying to read it all the time, but that's the best we can do, but it is by continuing to probe and put things together, plus looking at the order pattern, plus talking with our clients about their business and about when orders are going to be placed.

David Saxon (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thank you so much.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

You're welcome, David.

Operator (participant)

Speakers, there are no further questions at this time. I will hand over the call to Jerrell Shelton, your CEO. Please continue.

Jerrell Shelton (CEO)

Thank you for your questions, this afternoon and for our discussions. Our second quarter results showed strong progress in our life sciences business, and all businesses and revenue lines improved quarter-over-quarter. In particular, the cell and gene therapy industry continues to advance, as evidenced by the 51% year-over-year increase we saw in our revenue from the strong demand of these life-saving therapies. I think you can tell from my earlier remarks in our discussions and our quarterly review, that we're not just sitting back and waiting for market improvements. We're proactive in taking measures that will keep us in financial trim and at the same time, help us move forward as we advance our support of the life sciences. We're serious about reaching our goal of profitability and a return to positive Adjusted EBITDA in 2025.

Profitable growth is not just an aspiration, it's a mandate. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. We appreciate your continued support and interest in our company. We look forward to updating you on our progress again next quarter. We hope you have a good evening.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Thank you.