Terumo Corp

TSE:4543

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q3

[Naoki Muto, executive]

I am the CAFO, Muto. I will now explain the third quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2021.

First, a summary of the overall results. Sales revenue of the Cardiac and Vascular company was greatly affected by COVID-19 in the first quarter, but saw a steady recovery in the second quarter and then third quarter. Impact on the General Hospital and Blood Cell Technologies companies remained minor due to continued high demand for some products serving COVID-19-related needs, resulting in a 5% year-on-year decrease for the group as a whole, and when excluding FX impact, a 3% decrease to get closer to the level of the previous fiscal year.

Adjusted operating profit continued to see negative impact from sales decline in the Cardiac and Vascular company while expenses naturally fell due to limitations on activities and our ongoing careful evaluation of each outlay to control expenditures. This resulted in 8% negative growth when excluding FX impact and 10% negative operating profit growth to show a notable recovery upon entering the third quarter.

Profit for the year was minus 12% year-on-year, another indicator of recovery acceleration in the third quarter. In the third quarter, all companies saw improved product mix year-on-year, increasing gross profit and further leading to an acceleration of profit recovery. This resulted in Q3 being our best-ever stand-alone quarter for sales, adjusted operating profit and operating profit.

Next slide, please. This is the variance analysis of adjusted operating profit compared to the previous year. Gross profit decrement by sales decrease was reduced by the group-wide positive growth of the third quarter to JPY 6.8 billion, meaning that the downward impact was reduced from where it was at the end of the first half. Gross margin accounted for a JPY 3 billion negative impact due to improvement in cross-company mix as Cardiac and Vascular recovered and as each company improved its product mix to reduce downward impact from where it was at the end of the first half. Price was a JPY 900 million negative impact, slightly accelerated from the first half by the recovery progress of Cardiac and Vascular company.

In Q3, Japan reimbursement completed the cycle of negative impact by the revision that occurred at the previous year's October consumption tax increase, resulting in only a small increase from the first half to minus JPY 2.6 billion.

European MDR and IT investment progressed as planned, resulting in JPY 800 million and JPY 900 million negative impacts, respectively, with increased spending year-on-year.

SG&A decrease was a JPY 6.8 billion positive impact as limitations on access to hospitals and reduced promotional and travel costs continued, in addition to our careful control of each expenditure.

R&D decrease had a JPY 600 million positive impact as we reconfirmed the level of priority for each project while largely maintaining R&D investment in projects that will contribute mid- to long term.

FX impact was the result of yen depreciation against the euro and other currencies, shrinking the impact from where it was at the end of the first half to minus JPY 2.4 billion year-on-year.

Next slide, please. Next is revenue by region. In Japan, the Cardiac and Vascular company is recovering steadily each quarter. The General Hospital company made strong efforts to supply COVID-19-related products, including infection control, resulting in continuation of its positive growth from the second quarter and joining the Blood and Cell Technologies company in recovering to the same levels as the previous year. The region as a whole also returned to previous year levels.

In Europe, Cardiac and Vascular company continued its positive growth from the second quarter as the other 2 companies grew in double digits to bring the group as a whole closer to the previous year's level.

In the Americas, the Cardiac and Vascular company showed a steady recovery, but some impact from the COVID-19 resurgence there showed in the latter part of the third quarter.

In China, the impact of distributor order timing in the Neurovascular business is gradually decreasing. Looking at the third quarter on a stand-alone basis, it experienced mid single-digit positive growth and overall showed a notable recovery.

In Asia and Others, there was some negative impact due to lockdowns in some countries, and each company is seeing a slow recovery.

Next slide, please. Next is revenue by company. Year-to-date, elective procedure delays continue to impact the Cardiac and Vascular company, but recovery is occurring steadily each quarter. Looking only at the 3 months of the third quarter, the company was at minus 2% year-on-year, so nearly back to previous year levels. The General Hospital company still had impact from overall decreased demand. But the Alliance business' double-digit growth, combined with a new product in pain management and increased infection control product demand, exceeded negative impact, resulting in a return to positive growth. The Blood and Cell Technologies company experienced increased demand for convalescent plasma and maintained positive growth, continuously driven by the component collection system. I will give more detail by company in the next slides.

Next slide, please. Here is Cardiac and Vascular company. Sales revenue was minus 10% year-on-year, representing a steady recovery. The TIS business experienced some impact from the resurgence of COVID-19 in the latter part of the third quarter, but is showing a steady recovery as the number of procedures increases. The Neurovascular business turned to positive growth in the third quarter, a sign of the business returning to its usual strong growth trend. CV still saw impact from delayed elective procedures, but that was somewhat mitigated by increased sales of ECMO products in Japan. The Vascular Graft business continued its positive growth from the second quarter year-on-year, remaining steady. In profit, there had been downward impact from reduced sales revenue, but the progress of recovery in the high profitability TIS and Neurovascular businesses improved product mix so that the 3 months of the third quarter saw a drastic increase in profitability.

Next slide, please. Next, the General Hospital company. Sales revenue continued to be impacted by limitations on patient hospital visits. But, along with the double-digit growth in pain management products and the Alliance business, increased demand for infection control products like thermometers and disinfectant overcame the negative impact to push the company to positive growth. In profit, growth of the high profitability health care products and the Alliance business improved product mix, which added to the ongoing expense controls toward increasing profit and improving profitability.

Next slide, please. Next is Blood and Cell Technologies company. In sales revenue, the Blood Center Solution business remains challenged due to a global decrease in blood donors. However, along with high COVID-19-related demand for convalescent plasma in Europe and the United States, a software update to raise collection efficiency contributed to increased sales of component collection systems, driving the company as a whole. In profit, continued expense controls focused on SG&A, combined with progress in improving product mix with a higher proportion of component collection systems to improve profitability and raise profit drastically in this company as well.

Next slide, please. I will now explain our thinking regarding the fourth quarter. As I mentioned in the explanation of results, some businesses of the Cardiac and Vascular company did begin to see some impact from the COVID-19 resurgence in the U.S. and Europe in the latter part of the third quarter, around December. We are told that restrictions are being strengthened in European countries and that in the U.S. as well, over 100 hospitals are postponing elective procedures.

Looking at the most recent sales results from January, they appear likely to be down 10% or so from the average of the third quarter months. However, COVID-19 vaccinations have begun and medical settings are raising with certainty their ability to handle the pandemic. Therefore, we do not anticipate the same decrease in demand and negative sales impact that we saw in April and May of 2020. Regarding profit, we will begin adjusting our production level to gradually correct for inventory that we built up from a BCP perspective when the first COVID-19 wave hit. We believe this will be a burden on our gross profit. We will continue to control our SG&A and R&D spending as we have in recent quarters. Overall, we anticipate a slightly weaker fourth quarter than the third quarter which saw a combination of positive factors, including good product mix, but we are hopeful to bring fourth quarter results to a level near the sales and profit of the second quarter.

Next slide, please. In line with our third quarter results and thinking regarding the fourth quarter, we will revise our guidance upward. In sales revenue, taking into consideration the impact of some locations' COVID-19 resurgence and uncertainty in the market, we will maintain our guidance. In profit, as I explained on the previous slide, the fourth quarter does not appear to be as promising as the third, but we, nevertheless, saw a significant upswing in the third quarter. With that included in the overall picture, we will upwardly revise our guidance for adjusted operating profit by JPY 7 billion, operating profit by JPY 7.5 billion and profit for the year by JPY 7 billion. Although the fiscal year end is only 2 months from now, we do expect that with vaccinations progressing, overseas sales and other activity will rise. We anticipate that this, along with the clinical trial and sales promotion tool related expenses, will result in an increase of some percentage in SG&A compared to the third quarter. However, depending on how the COVID-19 resurgence goes, expenditures could remain at the same level as those of the third quarter. Regarding dividends, taking into account the continuing COVID-19 resurgence, uncertainty and risks, we will maintain the guidance we issued in May.

Next slide, please. Here are the major topics for the third quarter. We received GOOD DESIGN AWARD for multiple products throughout the Terumo Group, receiving the award for the 25th consecutive year. Looking at company topics, we can see that the neurovascular product WEB and DM related products made strategic progress. In the Alliance business, as our CEO, Sato, mentioned in the first half earnings announcement, we are steadily expanding our CDMO production capacity at Terumo Yamaguchi to prepare for the growing development pipeline of that business.

Next slide, please. This is the final slide and shows our pipeline status for the fiscal year. I will omit the details, but new product launches are generally on schedule. With the COVID-19 resurgence and other factors, we must remain vigilant. We will continue making our best management efforts to achieve our fiscal year guidance and return towards sustainable growth. Thank you.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]