Revenue Outlook
Q: What's the revenue growth expectation for upcoming quarters?
A: Management expects the growth rate in Q3 to be similar to Q2, indicating that the deceleration seen over the past few quarters is behind them. They acknowledge that while a return to positive organic growth in Q4 is possible, it will depend on market normalization.

Biopharma Headwinds
Q: How are biopharma funding challenges impacting the business?
A: The company experienced increased headwinds in December due to a over 20% decline in biotech funding, with funding down sequentially in the mid-teens. This significantly affected revenues, especially from smaller biotech customers facing more severe funding constraints. Management believes biotech funding was the biggest driver of the slowdown, with conservatism from pharma being secondary and more transitory.

China Outlook
Q: What is the outlook for the China market?
A: Activity in China is stabilizing after a period where it came to a standstill, impacting 10% of revenues. Management does not expect a quick recovery and anticipates a slower-than-usual return to normalized funding. They remain long-term believers in China and are building a local GMP facility to serve the market.

Margin Improvement
Q: How will margins improve going forward?
A: The company is taking actions to enhance efficiency, including aligning workforce capacity and evaluating non-core businesses for potential divestiture. These actions give management higher confidence that margins reported this quarter will be the low point for the year, targeting a return to the mid-30% range by Q4.

Antibody Business Performance
Q: How is the antibody business performing?
A: Despite headwinds, the antibody business has achieved low single-digit growth even in the current environment. The company leveraged their world-renowned antibody quality, even at higher prices, and shifted focus to academic markets to mitigate biopharma slowdowns. They anticipate that destocking headwinds will abate.

M&A Strategy
Q: What is the approach to M&A and valuations?
A: The company is actively pursuing acquisitions to strengthen growth pillars, with recent success acquiring Lunaphore to enhance their position in the spatial biology market. They maintain a disciplined approach, open to targets of various sizes and types, and are seeing opportunities as valuations become more aligned with public markets.

Cell and Gene Therapy Portfolio
Q: How is the cell and gene therapy portfolio performing?
A: The portfolio was down year-over-year. However, the number of orders reached an all-time record level, indicating continued strong customer interest despite smaller order quantities. They plan to broaden the portfolio by releasing five new GMP proteins in the coming quarters.

Wilson Wolf Investment
Q: How is the Wilson Wolf investment progressing?
A: Wilson Wolf experienced a challenging year due to canceled early-stage activities, ending down mid-single digits. However, the last quarter showed significant improvement, and they expect continued sequential growth. An approval is upcoming where G-Rex is specified, and they anticipate fully integrating Wilson Wolf by the end of calendar year 2027.

Return to Double-Digit Growth
Q: When will double-digit growth return?
A: Management is confident that once the market normalizes to its mid-single-digit growth trajectory, they will achieve double-digit growth, potentially by the end of calendar year 2025.

Restructuring Actions
Q: What restructuring actions are being taken?
A: The company is optimizing efficiency by aligning workforce capacity with business volumes and evaluating non-core businesses for divestiture due to underperformance or lack of synergy.

Protein Sciences Decline
Q: What's driving the decline in Protein Sciences?
A: Reagents were down year-over-year, despite antibodies being slightly up. Instrument sales declined due to capital constraints from customers, although consumables for instruments were up nearly 20%.

Customer Segment Dynamics
Q: How are customer segments performing?
A: Smaller biotech customers are more affected by funding difficulties, while larger pharma shows more transitory conservatism. Activity from venture capital and private equity firms suggests funding may improve, benefiting smaller biotechs.