Trinity Biotech plc (NASDAQ:TRIB) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

John Gillard: Yeah. So, just to be clear, we are not closing our Buffalo site. We are expanding our autoimmune manufacturing capability. So our Jamestown site has historically dealt with our legacy infectious disease business. I think we flagged a number of times we do expect that business to continue to kind of keep — was reduced down over time, right? And for that reason, we are seeking to get greater utility out of the Jamestown site. That site has been a very loyal, highly productive site for Trinity

Aris Kekedjian: It’s a very flexible product site as well. You can ramp up and ramp down in a number of different product lines. We are looking at it as one of these — as a swing facility and a flexible site in many ways.

John Gillard: Yeah. And that flexibility increases our overall utilization, okay, so that’s critical. So we want that portfolio effect at as many sites as we can, so that we are not left with trapped costs in particular sites depending upon inter-quarter demand for product.

Aris Kekedjian: And look, our intention with the Buffalo side is, to be honest, expansion around our lab. That’s where our focus is. So using Jamestown for capacity around autoimmune products so that we can expand the lab in Buffalo actually aligns a lot better with workforce dynamics and so we think it’s the right way to go.

Jim Sidoti: Okay. Any update on refinancing the remaining portion of the debt?

John Gillard: We continue to examine a number of options. I think as we flagged previously, we seek to do that as part of some kind of strategic transaction and that would be our preference. So looking at a number of different options, we don’t have a critical need at this point to overly focus on that and we will make a thoughtful decision in the context of broader strategic objectives.

Aris Kekedjian: A number of our

Jim Sidoti: Okay.

Aris Kekedjian: Yeah. We were having a number of dialogues with various parties about different strategic ideas. That — most of those should be kind of coming to fruition one way or the other in the first quarter, early first quarter and that’s probably the right time for us to then go seek a proper refinancing on the back of a move around strategy we have been outlining.

Jim Sidoti: Okay. And then I just want to be clear that I heard you correctly, in terms of guidance for the fourth quarter, it sounds like maybe a little bit weaker on Fitzgerald, a little bit stronger in some of the other product lines, but overall, it seems like guidance you gave at the end of last quarter of $19 million or so, it sounds like that’s similar to the guidance you have given for the fourth quarter?

Aris Kekedjian: I think we will be a little lower in the fourth quarter. I — what I said last quarter was, we are kind of flattening baselining around $18 million, $18.5 million ballpark. That’s why came and roughly — I have done the math, roughly, we are a $75 million run rate company closing out the year, okay? It’s about $18.5 million run rate. I think that’s kind of — it’s a little lumpy like here quarter-to-quarter, but that’s kind of where we are averaging out. The initiatives we have been putting in place, I have been here 60 days, the initiatives we have been putting in place should start kicking in, in the New Year. So we expect to start seeing tick ups in revenue profile in 2023 — early 2023.

Jim Sidoti: Got it. All right. Thanks.

Aris Kekedjian: Fitzgerald is really — yeah, Fitzgerald is the most, it’s the biggest swing from quarter-to-quarter. It’s just — we wanted to make sure the demand profile was more evenly distributed over the course of the year. We have got a number of inbounds and Asia seems to be rebounding a little bit faster. So we were able to book some of that stuff, but we are not banking on that with Fitzgerald in the fourth quarter and that’s the major gap.

John Gillard: And Jim, as you know from the past, some of our orders can be large value and there’s uncertainty around that until we reach out into the quarter.

Jim Sidoti: Understood. Thank you.

Aris Kekedjian: You bet.

Operator: The next question is from Paul Nouri of Noble Equity Fund. Please go head.

Paul Nouri: Hey. Good afternoon. I am wondering if you could give us any guidance on what gross margin will be compared to the third quarter going forward?

John Gillard: Not really at this stage, Paul, a lot of moving pieces, and to be honest, between the headcount reductions that we are doing and there’s a lot of PPV variants at the moment with input price increases. So, at this point, I’d be reluctant to give guidance on this.

Aris Kekedjian: I think we gave a perspective last at Piper. It’s in the presentation. I think we are targeting over the next two years, three years about 40%, 45% gross margin level. That’s kind of where our base plan lands.

Paul Nouri: Okay. And the run rate of the screening test that you mentioned in the press release. Is that just a number that you can do based on manufacturing or that you think you will have based on won tenders next year?

John Gillard: The — is this the TrinScreen?

Paul Nouri: Yes.