Enzo Biochem, Inc.
Q4 2019 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 15 Oct 2019

[Operator:]

Good afternoon and welcome to the Enzo Biochem Inc. Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2019 Operating Results Conference Call.I will now read the company's Safe Harbor statement. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release maybe considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended.Such statements include declarations regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company and its management, including those related to cash flow, gross margins, revenues, and expenses are dependent on a number of factors outside of the control of the company, including inter alia, the markets for the company's products and services, cost of goods and services, other expenses, government regulations, litigations and general business conditions. See Risk Factors in the company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2018.Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of developments occurring after the date of this conference call.During this conference call, the company may refer to EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure. EBITDA is not and should not be considered an alternative to net loss, loss from operations or any other measure for determining operating performance. The company has provided a reconciliation of the difference to GAAP on its website, www.enzo.com, and in its press release issued last night.Our speaker today is Barry Weiner, President. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode and the floor will be open for your questions and comments following the presentation.I would now like to turn the floor over to your host. Mr. Weiner, the floor is yours.

[Barry Weiner:]

Thank you. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. We distributed our fourth quarter and year end results after the market closed this afternoon and I hope you've had a chance to take a look at them.Before we get into a discussion of the financial and operational results for the fiscal quarter and the year-end, I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about our position in the marketplace. The progress towards our three-pronged short term value-creation program and share some highlights and accomplishments from the last 12 months.As was articulated in our press release this afternoon, Enzo's structure and business strategy represented the culmination of a number of years of extensive planning of productive work. We have developed the ability to offer low-cost, high-performance products and services in diagnostics, specifically in the areas of molecular, immunohistochemistry and cytogenetics.While reimbursement pressures facing diagnostic labs remain a headwind, our unique products positioned us well to capitalize on these secular trends over the long-term. Our pioneering work in genomic analysis, coupled with our extensive patent estate and enabling platforms have built a foundation for the company to continue to play an important role in the rapidly growing molecular medicines marketplace.Enzo technology solutions and platforms and unique operational structure are designed to reduce overall healthcare costs for consumers, government, and private insurers. Our proprietary technology platforms reduce our current and prospective customers' needs for multiple specialized instruments and offer a variety of high throughput capabilities together with the demonstrated high level of accuracy and reproducibility.Our test panels are focused on large and growing markets primarily in the area of women's health, infectious diseases, genetic disorders and personalized medicine.The company continues to make significant progress toward unlocking shareholder value, guided by three core pillars of our strategy – strategic relationships, creating a new paradigm for the laboratory and diagnostic marketplaces, and thriving operational profitability and lab segment growth.One of our chief goals as we stated previously is to achieve clinical laboratory profitability despite a very challenging reimbursement environment. We feel confident we are progressing towards accomplishing this objective.Our diagnostic products, developed and manufactured at Enzo Life Sciences, and formatted and validated at Enzo Clinical Labs, are perfect examples of the integrated nature of our company’s businesses and the value and leverage we generate from these synergies. It would be extremely difficult and costly to replicate as two separate units.More importantly, this combination creates efficiency and cost savings benefits for products, for labs around the country. In an adverse laboratory-wide climate of shrinking margins and declining profitability, our proprietary platforms that offer high sensitivity, compatibility with existing systems and low cost/higher margins, are tailor-made for both product sales that being systems reagents and consumables and the lab-to-lab services growth opportunities that we are actively pursuing.One important note related to our strategic activities. As we noted in a release and so has retained Lazard to Assist in Strategic Relationships and New Venture Creation across the company's four core platforms

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Currently there appears to be no further questions at this time.

[Barry Weiner:]

Thank you very much for your attendance on the call. We look forward to reporting to you in the middle of December on our first quarter. Have a good day.

[Operator:]

A replay of this broadcast will be available until Tuesday, October 29 at 12 midnight. You may access this replay by dialing 1855-859-2056. The PIN number is 4196818. The replay is also available over the Internet at www.enzo.com. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.