Rich Lindahl
Analyst · JPMorgan. Please proceed
Thank you, Bob. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. I'll start on Slide 10 and open my remarks with some summary thoughts to put today's earnings report into context. Our fourth quarter execution was solid and continues to illustrate the strength and durability of our diversified business model. Our medical countermeasures platform remain the foundational element of our business with strong predictable contributions from anthrax vaccines, ACAM2000 and our other medical countermeasure products. Our nasal naloxone product showed another strong period of performance across both the public interest and retail channels. As Bob commented earlier, we responded to the formation of a generic nasal naloxone market by activating our supply agreement with Sandoz for their distribution of an authorized generic. We also continue to make steady progress in stabilizing and incrementally improving the performance of the CDMO services business across our core manufacturing sites at Bayview, Camden and Winnipeg. And finally, we further advanced our R&D programs, most notably with the initiation of the AV7909 BLA rolling submission and the launch of the chikungunya vaccine Phase III trial. With that, let's turn to the numbers, which were especially strong in the fourth quarter, demonstrating the operating leverage and earnings potential inherent in our business model. As indicated on Slide 11, highlights include total revenues of $723 million, an increase over the prior year period and in line with our guidance, principally due to increased sales of anthrax vaccines and nasal naloxone products. Our key profitability measures also increased compared to the prior year period, including adjusted EBITDA of $348 million and adjusted net income of $243 million. Other notable items in the quarter include anthrax vaccine sales of $138 million higher than the prior year due to timing of deliveries of AV7909 to the U.S. Government's Strategic National Stockpile. ACAM2000 sales of $126 million, slightly lower than the prior year, but reflecting ongoing deliveries to the U.S. government under the existing 10-year procurement contract. Nasal naloxone product sales of $121 million higher than the prior year, driven by strong unit sales of branded NARCAN to the U.S. public interest in commercial retail markets, as well as customer channels in Canada. This line also includes revenues related to sales under our arrangement with Sandoz for their authorized generic naloxone nasal spray, which began late in the year. Other product sales were $50 million, significantly higher than the prior year, driven by deliveries to the U.S. government of VIGIV and other medical countermeasure products. and combined CDMO service and lease revenues of $218 million, which was higher than the prior year due primarily to final cash collections associated with the mutually agreed termination of the CIADM public-private partnership with BARDA, which we announced in early November. Turning to operating expenses. As a reminder, we are now breaking out cost of product sales and cost of CDMO separately. Product cost of goods sold in the quarter were $145 million, higher than the prior year, largely due to higher product sales. Cost of CDMO were $68 million, slightly higher than the prior year due to additional spending at our Bayview facility to further support enhancements to quality systems and capabilities at the site. R&D expense of $83 million higher than the prior year, primarily reflecting a nonrecurring write-off of a $38 million contract asset that resulted from the CIADM termination. SG&A spend of $94 million higher than the prior year, reflecting growth in headcount and professional services in support of our expanding operations. And importantly, pursuant to our customary annual impairment testing, we recognized a $42 million noncash goodwill impairment charge related to the commercial business, driven primarily by the near-to-medium term impact of the ongoing pandemic on our travel health business. Turning to Slide 12. Let's look at the latest trends for our CDMO business line performance metrics. In the fourth quarter, we secured new business of $54 million on continuing steady demand for our services. As of December 31, the CDMO backlog was $837 million, lower than the level as of September 30, reflecting the impact of the $218 million of CDMO revenues recognized in the quarter, offset by the new business secured of $54 million. And for the first time, we are introducing a new metric, number of customers in place of opportunity funnel, as we believe customer count provides more valuable context on the performance of the business. As of December 31, our customer count stood at 70. Importantly, we have retained more than 95% of our existing clients since 2019, reflecting the stability of our diversified customer base. Next, let me touch briefly on key results related to the full year period, which are shown on Slides 13 and 14. Total revenues were $1.8 billion, higher than the prior year and in line with our previous guidance. While revenues in the CDMO business did not meet our original expectations for 2021, we had positive outcomes in medical countermeasures and in the commercial business, where nasal naloxone product revenue significantly exceeded our initial guidance. As to profitability, due to operating expenses coming in higher for 2021, primarily as a result of higher cost of CDMO, coupled with increased SG&A expense, we reported adjusted EBITDA of $518 million and adjusted net income of $326 million, both lower than the prior year. Lastly, gross margin was 54% and adjusted gross margin was 55%, both lower year-over-year, again, reflecting the higher operating costs in 2021. Moving on to Slide 15. I'll touch on select balance sheet and cash flow highlights. We ended the fourth quarter in a strong liquidity position with $576 million in cash and just under $600 million of available revolver capacity. Our net debt position was $274 million, and our ratio of net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA was less than 1x. Our solid balance sheet was supported by strong operating cash flow in 2021 of $321 million. This result enabled continued investments in opportunistic buyback activities as follows: Full year capital expenditures of $225 million, reflecting our continuing commitment to investment in expanded capabilities and capacities to support our diversified product and services business. Net of reimbursements, capital expenditures for the year were $140 million or 8% of total revenues. And in the fourth quarter, we used approximately $113 million to repurchase approximately 2.6 million shares pursuant to the $250 million repurchase authorization approved by our Board of Directors in November. The timing of any additional repurchases will be determined by management based on its evaluation of market conditions and other factors, and we will report such activity on a quarterly basis going forward. Please turn to Slide 16 for a review of our 2022 forecast. As outlined in today's press release, we are updating our 2022 outlook, principally the expectations for CDMO revenues. As Bob said earlier, our most recent discussions with Johnson & Johnson have indicated that they are evaluating their global supply chain as they assess the demand for their COVID-19 vaccine. Based on this information and in coordination with J&J, we are taking the opportunity to initiate a maintenance period that we would normally plan for our Bayview facility earlier than anticipated and also extended in order to make additional improvements and modifications that will better position Bayview for future non-pandemic work. Accordingly, we are adjusting our 2022 CDMO and total revenue guidance downward by $100 million to reflect the expected impact of these activities, which also affects certain profitability metrics. However, it is important to note that our contract with J&J has not been changed. Our updated guidance ranges are now as follows: for total revenue, we now anticipate a range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. For CDMO revenues, we anticipate a range of $330 million to $380 million. For adjusted EBITDA, we expect a range of $240 million to $300 million. And for adjusted net income, we now anticipate a range of $95 million to $140 million. All of our other 2022 forecast metrics are unaffected by the update and therefore reaffirmed. Finally, we are also providing our forecast for first quarter 2022 total revenues of $280 million to $310 million. As we stated in January, we view 2022 as a year to rebaseline the business. Importantly, our 2022 outlook takes into account a number of key considerations, including: first, continued stability in the government medical countermeasures products business line, driven by the high visibility of our long-term contracts. Second, stable performance of our key commercial products business line, specifically nasal naloxone products and our expectations of a full year's impact of the shift to a generic market. Third, despite the updated outlook for revenue specific to the J&J agreement, we expect continued consistent performance for the rest of the CDMO services business line as we pursue opportunities to serve existing and new customers at our other revenue generating sites. And fourth, continued investments in the business, specifically R&D and CapEx, as we pursue opportunities to drive growth, improve operating efficiency and optimize capacity utilization across our manufacturing network. To conclude, please turn to Slide 17 for some summary comments. In the fourth quarter 2021, we delivered solid performance in our core medical countermeasures business and nasal naloxone products, while also generating new business wins in CDMO services. We also continue to make progress at stabilizing the Bayview site in support of J&J and we realized important pipeline milestones with the initiation of the rolling BLA submission for AV7909 and the launch of the CHIKV vaccine Phase III trial. Looking forward in 2022, we anticipate continued solid contributions from our government medical countermeasure and commercial products businesses, more normalized performance from our CDMO services business and achievement of important milestones in our R&D portfolio. We look forward to keeping you informed as we execute on these plans and deliver further proof points that demonstrate the long-term growth potential of our strong diversified business. That completes my prepared remarks, and I'll now turn the call over to the operator, so that we can start the question-and-answer session. Operator?