Rapid Micro Biosystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:RPID) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Dan Arias : If I could just ask one shot follow-up, Sean, on the revenue mix, can you just help us with the way that you see that trending over time? I mean, I know you don’t want to get too far into a long-term forecast, but one of the things that was attractive at the time of the IPO was just the way that the P&L was shaping up when it comes to the percentage of sales that were coming from recurring revenues. I think you had a goal of getting to 50% by 2026, I believe. Is there anything you can help us with as far as like a refreshed view or an updated view on just the progression and the shift that you see there?

Sean Wirtjes : Yeah, I mean, I think with — what we’ve been experienced with placements over the past five, six quarters, we actually are way ahead of schedule if you look at the revenue mix in terms of recurring. So I think, we had 40% recurring revenue growth in 2022, that was a point of important strength for us. So I think we’re going to stay a little bit ahead of where we thought we’d be. We shouldn’t be I think — if you look over the course of this year that’s still going to be well over 50% of the revenue recurring. I wouldn’t expect that to continue over time. I’d expect us to more balance out. So, I think the critical thing is we look at the business, and I think Rob touched on this. I mean, number one priority for us is getting system placements going again.

If you look back a couple of years, I think the kind of mix of revenue that we saw, then what is something that we’re working to get back to a large extent where we drive placement growth, placement growth drives validation and service growth. That service growth then drives consumable growth and that recurring that percentage drifts up with that. So I think Dan, we were back — I think we were down in the 40% range in terms of recurring a couple years ago, maybe even a little bit below that. We’re well above 50 now. I expect that to even out over the longer term as we get back to more significant placement growth. And we get that kind of engine running again with service and consumables.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tejas Savant from Morgan Stanley.

Yuko Oku: Hello, this is Yuko on the call for Tajas. Thank you for taking our question. Could you outline priorities for investment in light of focus on cash preservation and cost cuts? And then also, are you putting in any contribution from new products, namely the RMB nucleus mode alarm software into the guide?

Rob Spignesi: Yeah, so, with regard to investment priorities in the business is consistent with our core planks of our business strategy. Number one is accelerating system placements, so that’s investment in commercial and related activity. Investment in new product development is a clear priority as well, and investment in efficiency activities constitute the bulk of our investment approach and portfolio. I’ll pass on for the second part of that question.

Sean Wirtjes : Yeah, and just on that first point, yeah. I’d say, obviously Yuko, we did a restructuring back in August to take some cost out of the system here and within those investment areas that we’re going to be very targeted. So every decision we make around investments is grounded in being responsible stewards of our cash. So, that is top of mind in every discussion around investment that we have. But we are going to continue to make those investments going forward. That’s the plan. On new product contribution, specifically mold alarm. Our goal for 2023 with mold alarm is to is to basically get it out there in the market, work with a number of our customers to get them using the product so that they’re in a spot where when we get to 2024, they’re ready to sign up for recurring annual subscriptions to that software.