The CC’s main theme was the introduction of SRDX’s new CEO, Gary Maharaj.
My impression is that Gary will be a pragmatist rather than a visionary. I anticipate that his primary focus will be to increase the use of SRDX’s surface modification intellectual property in medical devices marketed by other companies. In this vein, he mentioned the value of SRDX’s intellectual property with regard to enhancing the minimally invasive qualities of medical devices and reducing infections resulting from medical device use. These are the strengths of the Medical Device Division which I expect to flourish under is his leadership.
I also came away with the impression that Gary will strengthen SRDX’s research and development enterprise and de-emphasize product sales per se. This expectation raises the question: what will happen to the In Vitro Diagnostics division? .... Dan Owczarski asked essentially the same question in the Q&A. Gary responded by stating that certain segments of In Vitro are connected to SRDX’s core competency via formulation and chemistry, and in any event, In Vitro is not hurting the company, but instead providing stability during this transitional period. I took this response to mean that there won’t be any dramatic changes in the In Vitro Diagnostics franchise in the near term... It is worth noting that the growth opportunities referenced in the CC were coming from the In Vitro Diagnostics Division.
==== Selected quotes:
1. CC quotes relating to Gary Maharaj’s attitudes:
Gary Maharaj in his prepared remarks:
I believe that the ability to improve a medical device by surface modification is an important and ever growing need in healthcare...
SurModics is ultimately a technology company whose strength is providing easy-to-implement technology and product solutions for specific customer needs. R&D is the critical path of our growth engine and will be a key area of focus for me personally....
So minimally invasive, as we know, is a big trend, possible acquired infections are a big trend. So without limiting it, I think the trick will be to find easy uses for current core technologies that are able to generate medium term cash flows versus purely catheter type sleeves which are – which have a – many of them have a longer timeline because of the regulations involved...
From the Q&A:
<Q – Elizabeth Lilly>: I have several questions. Gary, can you – can we just step back a minute and you talked about tightly defining the core business is really critical in terms of defining the strategy. Let’s even taken a step back even before defining what it is, and can you, in a minute, define for us what the core business is? <A – Gary Maharaj>: When you look at the markets and the segments SurModics as a company plays in, it’s easier said than done. You can define it perhaps on business-specific viewpoint. What I will say is that SurModics has some chemistry and formulation capabilities that have applicability in different markets. Beyond that in terms of the customers and the products, the baseline is really the technology. And so, if I were to really give my assessment of the core would be defining it more currently based on the technology. That’s not adequate to really build a business though because you’ve got to know what products, customers, market segments, and perhaps channels that you play in. But I’m zeroing in very early on as to what is the secret sauce at SurModics that we do that can impact our product lines from the chemistry and formulations that we have. And to be honest, I am still in discovery mode. I don’t want to overstate what I think until I kind of more deeply embed myself with some of the brilliant scientists and engineers that we have here. So I’ll have more to share about that in the next call, needless to say, I’ll start off defining it from a technology viewpoint.
<Q – Elizabeth Lilly>: Okay. So in essence you don’t really – I mean you maybe want to keep some of that cash on the balance sheet, but my sense is that you’ll – would you say that, Gary, one of your priorities is, in terms of all these other things that you talked about, the strategic priorities of the company, one of the priorities is to figure out the best way to redeploy that cash on the balance sheet? <A – Gary Maharaj>: Yeah. The capital structure of the company is critical. I came from a private equity highly-leveraged world so I have a healthy respect for purity in the balance sheet, but the answer is absolutely.
<Q – Dan Owczarski>: Can you talk a little bit about the In Vitro Diagnostics business? Is that considered core right now or is that – could that be evaluated? And kind of what are the pros and cons of that business keeping that business as it is today? <A – Gary Maharaj>: When I look at the IVD business, first of all, it is, the products we have there are marquee products, and they are very differentiated. As I looked at the connection, and this is a very early look again, the connection really is at a root technology level on formulation and chemistry such as our PhotoLink process and some of those products and which is applied also in medical device business. So, is there a connection via technology to the core? Yes. Are there connections via the market segments and customers, certainly they are different segments that we’re operating in there. The question is, does the strength of that connection of the core give us leverage or operating advantage in the business? The business is solid. It’s stable. It’s cash flowing. And one of the things we again have to address is, can we get this business to grow if the core – if it’s within the boundaries of the core? So, that business is not, certainly not hurting the company, but providing some stability as we go through the strategic planning process.
What I believe is when we get through the strategic planning process, we’re going to have to apply the test of strategic fit to what we’re doing in R&D because then we would have developed a strategic plan and deciding to not follow it. So I think that will come out of it later. That said, I haven’t seen anything in our R&D pipeline that is why we are off target in terms of what the company needs to be doing.
2. CC quotes relating to near-term profit drivers:
Phil Ankeny in prepared remarks:
We continue to generate broad-based customer demand for our component in vitro diagnostic products, as well as our polymers, and reagent, coating reagents.
From the Q&A:
<Q – Dan Owczarski>: That you can add as far as what you referred to new product introductions in In Vitro Diagnostics, any color you could add on to what that would be? <A – Philip Ankeny>: There – we’re not prepared to give the details of the products yet other than to let you know that they’re in queue. And so, we’re making great progress on them and they’ll be coming out later in the year, probably second half of the fiscal year. And there are some products we’re really excited about. And absolutely, they help the growth profile of the business. <Q – Dan Owczarski>: So we should be thinking that they’re more additives to the product line or enhancements to the product line? <A – Philip Ankeny>: They’re not new categories. They’re within the product families that we have, but significant enhancements to capabilities our customers want to leverage.
