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Date

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. ET

Call participants

  • President and Chief Executive Officer — Robert W. Leasure, Jr.
  • Chief Financial Officer — Beth A. Taylor
  • Chief Strategy Officer — John E. Sagartz

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Risks

  • DSA cancellations and negative change orders— DSA cancellations and negative change orders rose approximately 31% in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (period ended June 30, 2025) compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024; trailing twelve-month cancellations increased approximately 2% year over year.
  • Decline in cash and increased cash used in operations— Cash and cash equivalents fell to $6.2 million as of June 30, 2025, from $21.4 million as of Sept. 30, 2024, with $24.8 million used in operating activities for the nine months ended June 30, 2025, versus $4.4 million in the nine months ended June 30, 2024.
  • Interest expense increase— Interest expense rose to $13.6 million in fiscal 2025 from $12.1 million in fiscal 2024, primarily due to PIK interest incurred on second lien notes issued in September 2024, as disclosed for fiscal 2025.
  • Outstanding lawsuits and settlement accrual— A $10 million accrual was recorded for securities class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits as of June 30, 2025, with full recovery of this amount expected from insurance, but terms are not yet finalized.

Takeaways

  • Total revenue-- $130.7 million, up 23.5% from the third quarter of fiscal 2024, driven by a $21 million (34.1%) increase in the Research Products (RMS) segment and a $3.9 million (8.9%) increase in the Contract Research Services (DSA) segment.
  • Net loss-- Consolidated net loss (GAAP) was $17.6 million, improved from $26.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, reflecting operational improvements but still negative.
  • DSA operating margins-- DSA operating margins improved 4.6% sequentially from the second quarter of fiscal 2025, but remained 0.8% lower than the third quarter of fiscal 2024.
  • RMS operating margins-- Increased 19.8% in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 compared to the prior-year quarter; 6.7% lower sequentially from the second quarter of fiscal 2025, which included a $7.6 million litigation settlement.
  • Adjusted EBITDA-- $11.6 million in adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of fiscal 2025, the highest since 2023, compared to $100,000 in adjusted EBITDA in fiscal 2024; adjusted EBITDA margin was 8.9% of total revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2025.
  • Net new DSA awards-- $50.4 million, a 13% increase over the prior quarter and a 25% increase in net new DSA awards over the third quarter of fiscal 2024, with discovery awards increasing 31.3%.
  • DSA book-to-bill ratio-- 1.07 times for the DSA book-to-bill ratio in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, with a year-to-date DSA book-to-bill ratio of 1.03 times for fiscal 2025.
  • DSA backlog-- $134.3 million DSA backlog at quarter end, up from $130.8 million at March 31, 2025, but down from $139.4 million at June 30, 2024.
  • Balance sheet & cash-- $6.2 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2025; access to a $15 million undrawn revolving credit facility, with a $3 million draw on the revolving credit facility recently requested.
  • Total debt-- $396.5 million in total debt, net of issuance costs, as of the third quarter of fiscal 2025, including $114.8 million in notes and $21.8 million in second lien notes as of June 30, 2025.
  • RMS site optimization plan-- Net annual savings of $6 million to $7 million are anticipated from investments of $6.5 million (as stated in the company's most recent quarterly earnings call), with the plan on track for completion by March 2026 and $300,000 spent to date, net of tenant allowances, related to the RMS site optimization capital investment.
  • Integration and efficiency metrics-- The company now operates 30% fewer sites than three years ago, and reduced its software platforms by 34%.
  • Legal developments-- SEC closed its investigation on nonhuman primate importation without recommending enforcement action; all RMS animal facilities, including Texas, received updated AAALAC accreditation.
  • Capital expenditures-- $4 million, or 3.1% of revenue, in fiscal 2025, below the prior year's $4.4 million (4.2% of revenue), with expected annual capital spend for fiscal 2025 to be under 4% of revenue.
  • Inventory strategy (NHP)-- The company is maintaining higher nonhuman primate inventory to better meet customer needs, impacting working capital.

Summary

Inotiv(NOTV -10.50%) reported its highest consolidated revenue since 2024, driven by substantial growth in its RMS segment and improvement in Contract Research Services awards. Management highlighted strategic site consolidation and increased operational efficiency, including a smaller physical footprint and enhanced scientific staffing. While the closure of a significant SEC investigation resolved a major compliance overhang, the company continues to face elevated DSA cancellations and negative change orders in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, which were approximately 31% higher than the prior-year quarter, and operational cash outflows strained liquidity. Inotiv is conducting a strategic review of its capital structure with plans to engage third-party counsel, reflecting a heightened focus on debt maturities in 2026 and 2027 and ongoing balance sheet optimization. Rising interest expense and the need to resolve outstanding shareholder litigation settlements were underscored, with insurance recovery expected but not yet finalized.

  • The company noted that discovery services, its most fixed-cost business, can deliver incremental EBITDA contributions of "as high as 70 to 80%" as volume increases.
  • Management said, "we continue to be focused on our DSA margins," and noted a more stable pricing environment across DSA services.
  • Leadership expects to drive further RMS margin gains as phase two of the optimization plan proceeds.
  • The company will prioritize balance sheet and capital structure review, given upcoming debt maturities and liquidity considerations.
  • Management confirmed that on-time delivery has improved significantly over the past year, enhancing recurring business from existing customers.
  • DSA backlog conversion rate increased to 35.5% in fiscal 2025 from 31% in fiscal 2024.

Industry glossary

  • DSA (Drug Discovery and Safety Assessment): Inotiv's Contract Research Services segment, offering nonclinical drug discovery, toxicology, pathology, and related contract research services.
  • RMS (Research Models and Services): Inotiv's Research Products segment, encompassing animal models, in vivo sampling, physiology monitoring tools, and related research products and services.
  • NHP (Nonhuman Primate): Refers to nonhuman primates used in biomedical research—critical inventory and revenue component for the company.
  • AAALAC accreditation: Certification from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, representing compliance with high standards of animal welfare and facility management.
  • Book-to-bill ratio: The ratio of net new awards (bookings) to revenue billed, indicating demand trends and revenue pipeline strength.
  • PIK interest: Payment-in-kind interest, whereby interest on debt is paid by issuing additional debt rather than cash.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Steve Halper: Thank you, Aaron, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining today's quarterly call with Inotiv, Inc.'s management team. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that some of the looking statements, including statements about the company's future operating and financial results and plans, and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those projected. Any such statements represent management's expectations as of today's date. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Please refer to the company's SEC filings for further guidance on this matter including risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ from forward-looking statements. Management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures in an effort to provide additional information for investors. Definitions of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in the company's current and previous earnings releases which have been posted to the Investors section of the company's website www.inotiv.com, and is also available in the Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If you haven't obtained a copy of today's press release yet, you can do so by going to the investors section of Inotiv, Inc.'s website.

Joining us from the company this afternoon are Robert W. Leasure, president and chief executive officer, and Beth A. Taylor, chief financial officer. John E. Sagartz, chief strategy officer, will join us for the question and answer portion of the call.

Robert W. Leasure: Bob will begin with some opening remarks, after which Beth will present a summary of the company's financial results for our 2025. And then we'll open the call for questions. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Robert W. Leasure, CEO. Bob, please go ahead.

Robert W. Leasure: Thank you, Steve, and good afternoon, everyone. During the third quarter, we made some announcements and saw some continuation of the positive trends, which could be very meaningful for our business going forward. On May 29, 2025, during our in-person investor day, we addressed in more detail our view of the critical issues facing our industry such as tariffs, NIH funding, and the recent comments from the FDA related to new approach methodologies or NAMS. We also outlined our progress over the last eight years as we have built our business and in more recent focus over the last two years on integration and optimization. And then we outlined our goals to improve our cash flow and margins.

On June 2, 2025, we were informed by the SEC's division of enforcement that it concluded its investigation, which began in May 2023, related to importation of nonhuman primates from Asia. Based on the information available to the division as of the date of its letter, the division does not intend to recommend enforcement action by the SEC against Inotiv, Inc. As noted in our earnings release, just went up, based on current negotiations with the plaintiffs and the outstanding securities class action and shareholders derivative lawsuits.

We recorded a $10 million accrual for these lawsuits as of June 30, 2025, as well as a $10 million receivable due to the fact that we currently expect to recover the full amount of the accrual under our existing insurance policies. However, we must still reach a final agreement on the terms of any settlement, and actual amounts may change. We will provide additional information once we have material updates to share. In June, we received updated AAALAC accreditation for our NHP facilities in Texas. All of our RMS animal production facilities are currently AAALAC accredited, so this by itself is not particularly noteworthy.

However, what we are extremely proud of is that both NHP facilities in Texas received accreditation and were noted for having an exemplary program of laboratory animal care in use. This is a testament not only to the commitment of our people, but also the benefit of the investments we have made that have substantially improved these facilities and welfare of our animal model business. We look forward to continuing to strive for the high standards as we invest in our facilities. Now moving on to the quarterly results. We are pleased with the quarterly results. We are seeing signs that demonstrate the potential to increase DSA awards and improve the overall revenue, margins, and adjusted EBITDA.

For the 2025, we saw a year-over-year revenue increase of 23.5%. The total revenue was $130.7 million, compared to $105.8 million in 2024 and $124.3 million in 2025. Consolidated revenue for the quarter was the strongest since 2024. The year-over-year revenue increase was mainly due to an increase in RMS segment revenue of $21 million or 34.1% improvement over the prior year quarter and an increase in DSA segment revenue of $3.9 million or an 8.9% increase over the same period in fiscal 2024. Consolidated net loss for the quarter was $17.6 million compared to $26.1 million in 2024. Our EBITDA for the quarter was $11.6 million compared to $100,000 in 2024.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was the strongest since 2023. Q3 fiscal year 2025 DSA operating margins improved 4.6% over Q2 fiscal year 2025 but were still 0.8% lower compared to 2024. We previously noted we had a deterioration of DSA operating margins during 2025 and we were pleased to see these margins improve during the fiscal third quarter. We believe the DSA operating margins have been impacted in fiscal year 2025 from the pricing pressure we faced in fiscal year 2024 that continued to 2025. Margin improvements are critical to achieving our adjusted EBITDA goals. Some of the improvements in 2025 were due to improved pricing and scale as we grew revenue while working to control cost.

And we'll continue to focus on improving these margins in the future. RMS operating margins for Q3 fiscal year 2025 were 19.8% higher than the prior year quarter. However, margins were 6.7% lower compared to Q2 fiscal year 2025, which included a $7.6 million of operating income from a litigation settlement agreement. If we excluded that $7.6 million litigation settlement, from 2025, our RMS operating margins in Q3 fiscal year 2025 were the strongest operating margins we have seen since Q1 fiscal year 2024. We believe we have further opportunity to drive margins higher as we complete the next phase of the RMS site optimization plan which we announced in December 2024.

As we stated last quarter, we now anticipate net annual savings of $6 million to $7 million on capital investments of approximately $6.5 million. To date, we have spent approximately $300,000 net of tenant allowances related to this capital investment. We had two properties under contract to be sold. We closed on the sale of one property in June, and the net proceeds were used to repay principal on our term loans. The second property is expected to close during 2025. This optimization plan is still on track to be completed by March 2026. As with previous projects, we have executed in the RMS segment.

These additional investments are intended to help modernize our existing footprint while allowing us to close older facilities. The revised plan will reduce capacity and should create operating efficiencies while continuing our efforts to support our animal welfare objectives. Additionally, we believe this plan allows us to remain agile and increase capacity in the future if needed. We also continue to integrate and improve our North American transportation and distribution systems which we brought in-house in 2024. We followed up last quarter's year-over-year increase in net DSA awards of 27% with a year-over-year Q3 increase in net DSA awards of 25%.

We saw the most significant awards growth in our discovery business and the safety assessment services, which we expanded and started up over the last two years, such as the biotherapeutics, medical device services, and genetic toxicology. For the quarter, the discovery awards increased 31.3% over the same period a year ago. For all of DSA, we saw a positive quarterly net book to bill of 1.07 times and a year-to-date book to bill now is 1.03 times. We are pleased with our fiscal 2025 third quarter results, which we believe demonstrate our ability to identify opportunities and implement action plans to improve revenue and margins.

We remain confident about our ability to continue to show improvement in our financial performance as we prepare for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 while we simultaneously also focus on client satisfaction metrics, continue to integrate our services, and enhance our speed and delivery. We continue to evolve as a company. The 14 companies we acquired from 2018 to 2022 have now been working together for three or four years. We have gone from being a handful of different entities to a fully integrated nonclinical drug discovery and development company which has recruited and developed significant scientific strength.

Examples of some of these changes include a more optimized facility footprint where we have 30% fewer sites compared to three years ago providing a much better client experience and operating more efficiently and cost-effectively. While we've reduced our sites by the 30%, we have more than doubled the number of licensed veterinarians we have on staff. Significantly increasing the critical animal welfare staffing per facility. We have integrated and improved our systems to now 34% less software platforms. This is inherently more efficient and cost-effective domain plus we've invested in approved platforms, which provide much better data, improved ability to communicate both internally and with our clients.

Over the last four years, while we focus on integrating our services, we've also been strengthening our scientific group. As an example, we have more than doubled our board-certified veterinary pathologist as well as our pathology support team. We have improved our capacity, expanded our services, and increased our scientific strength. We've also grown our sales team to help expand our sales and customer base. I believe we are just now beginning to see the benefits of these changes. We continue to seek improvement, and believe we can be agile and evolve as the market and science such as NAMS continue to evolve.

While we have implemented and continue to implement strategies that we believe will address our cash flow and business model, we also recognize the importance of improving our balance sheet. We recognize that our first lien term loan matures in November 2026, with our convertible debt maturing in October 2027. Our lenders and convert holders have been very important partners to us and have been very supportive through some very challenging times over the last three years, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.

While we are not providing any specific guidance at this time, we are prioritizing a strategic review of our balance sheet and capital structure and our plan is to hire a third party to assist us with this process. Provide more information at the appropriate time. Before I close, turn it over to Beth, we want to recognize and acknowledge that this has been nice to see this increased sales and net awards over the past two quarters. And we've seen these trends continue through the first month of this current quarter. However, we are coming off some very weak numbers from a year ago.

And the geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions, risk, and uncertainty are likely to remain with us and with the industry for the foreseeable future. We are cautiously optimistic with the keyword being cautious. Despite whatever challenges we face, we remain committed to building a business that would create value for our clients, employees, and our shareholders and look forward to a bright future. Our leadership team has not only been resilient, but it has gotten stronger as we have worked through these challenging times.

We want everyone on our team and everyone who's been part of this company to know how much they are appreciated as the journey has required some sacrifices and everyone has been asked to put forth extraordinary efforts, their trust, time, and talents to help us build this company. I'll now hand things over to Beth to provide the financial overview.

Beth A. Taylor: Thank you, Bob, and good afternoon, everyone. For the 2025, total revenue was $130.7 million compared to $105.8 million in 2024. This was a $24.9 million or 23.5% increase in revenue from the prior year quarter. Primarily driven by increased NHP revenue within our RMS segment. DSA revenue in the fiscal 2025 third quarter was $48.2 million compared to $44.2 million in Q3 fiscal year 2024. The year-over-year increase in DSA revenue was primarily driven by an increase in general toxicology services as well as an increase in biotherapeutic services and medical device services. Overall, net new DSA awards this quarter were $50.4 million, a 13% increase over 2025 and a 25% increase over 2024.

We have also seen strong quoting and awards for the month of July which has been a good start to our last fiscal quarter of 2025. The backlog conversion rate in 2025 was 35.5% up from 31% in the prior year period. The DSA cancellations and negative change orders in 2025 were approximately 31% higher compared to the prior year third quarter. Cancellations in the trailing twelve-month period were approximately 2% more than the prior trailing twelve-month period. RMS revenue for 2025 of $82.5 million increased $21 million or 34.1% compared to Q3 fiscal year 2024.

The increase in RMS revenue was primarily due to higher NH volumes sold and higher average selling prices for NHPs compared to the prior year quarter. The overall operating loss for 2025 decreased $15.1 million from $20.8 million in 2024 to $5.7 million in 2025 primarily due to the $24.9 million increase in revenue previously mentioned and decreased operating expenses, primarily offset by increased cost of revenue. The increase in cost of revenue primarily relates to increased costs associated with the increased NHP related product and service revenue previously discussed. Consolidated net loss attributable to common shareholders in 2025 totaled $17.6 million or a $0.51 loss per diluted share.

This is compared to consolidated net loss attributable to common shareholders of $26.1 million or $1 loss per diluted share in 2024. For 2025, adjusted EBITDA was $11.6 million or 8.9% of total revenue compared to $100,000 or 0.1% of total revenue for 2024. Non-GAAP operating income for our DSA segment in the third quarter was $7.2 million or 5.5% of total revenue compared to $5 million or 4% of total revenue in 2025 and $7.8 million or 7.7% of total revenue in the last fiscal year's third quarter. As Bob mentioned, we continue to be focused on our DSA margins. And we expect to see improvement in future quarters.

As we experience an increase in discovery service revenue and continue to fill the added capacity and services we have developed over the last eighteen months, we believe we will see margin improvement through operating leverage. In addition, we are seeing a much more stable pricing environment across our GSA services. The book to bill ratio for DSA in 2025 was 1.07 times to one, Our trailing twelve-month book to bill was 0.97 times to one. CSA backlog was $134.3 million at June 30, 2025, compared to $130.8 million at March 31, 2025, and $139.4 million at June 30, 2024.

In our RMS segment, non-GAAP operating income in 2025 was $16.9 million or 12.9% of total revenue compared to $15.6 million or 12.5% of total revenue in 2025 and $6.5 million or 6.2% of total revenue in 2024. Interest expense in 2025 increased to $13.6 million from $12.1 million in 2024 primarily due to PIK interest incurred in relation to the second lien notes issued in September 2024. Our balance sheet as of June 30, 2025, included $6.2 million in cash and cash equivalents as compared to $21.4 million on September 30, 2024.

The primary uses of cash during the first nine months of fiscal 2025 were negative working capital of $19.2 million as we increased NHP inventory based on timing of import and $5.6 million of cash used in consolidated operations. In 2025, we saw significant fluctuations in our working capital based on the timing of NHP purchases and when we get paid for sales of NHPs by our clients. The company is utilized and will continue to utilize its revolving credit facility during the normal course of business as needed. As of June 30, 2025, the company had access to the $15 million revolver which had no balance outstanding.

Recently, the company has requested a draw of $3 million on its revolving credit facility. Total debt net of debt issuance costs as of June 30, 2025, was $396.5 million compared to $393.3 million on September 30, 2024. This includes $114.8 million of notes as of June 30, 2025, and our second lien notes of $21.8 million. Cash used in operating activities was $24.8 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2025, compared to $14.4 million of cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended June 30, 2024. Capital expenditures in 2025 were $4 million or approximately 3.1% of total revenue. The 2024 capital expenditures were $4.4 million or 4.2% of revenue.

We continue to expect our annual capital spend for fiscal 2025 to be less than 4% of revenue. formal fiscal 2025 guidance at this time. As we have stated previously, we hope to resume providing guidance once we have greater clarity on the market and client demand and clarity on any impact to our business once there is more information on tariffs. Our current operating plan forecast compliance with the updated covenants under our latest amendment to the credit agreement entered into in September 2024. And with that financial overview, we will turn the call over to our for questions.

Operator: Certainly. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press the star then one on your telephone keypad. You may withdraw your question at any time by pressing. And we will take our first question from Matthew Gregory Hewitt with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open.

Matthew Gregory Hewitt: Good afternoon and congratulations on the progress. Maybe first up, it sounds like your cancellations or negative change orders are still a little bit elevated. Is it your expectation that you could start to see that decline as we get into the back half of the year, maybe into fiscal year 2026? Or how are you thinking about that metric?

Beth A. Taylor: Well, I cannot predict what's gonna happen. But, yes, they were elevated this past quarter. For the year, they're only up 2%, but the last quarter was a fairly big quarter cancellations for us. So as you can probably figure out our book to bill on a gross basis was extremely large. You take that book to bill on top of the increased sales, we had the we had, you take the cancellations, it was a very, very strong quarter for new bookings. I think we just have to plan for cancellations to continue to be high. If they're not, that's great.

But as a result, that means, we need to have a higher gross book to bill and prepare for that. I think we have done a much better job over the last year expecting that. And, I think last quarter demonstrates now that if we're you know, that's if that's gonna be a new normal for a while to have cancellations, that means our gross bookings and expectations for gross bookings have to go up. That's why we increased our sales force, increased our sales team, and, right now, I think our organization is doing a good job of managing through that.

However, you know, as we've talked in the past, we sometimes get cancellations that can be one or two that can be fairly big, because of the size of our company. So, last quarter was pretty significant. This quarter looks to me like it you know, right now, it started off much better, but we'll wait and see how that goes. But, yeah, I think we just gotta proclaim that's a new normal. And, sell through it. We can't change it. We need to prepare for it.

Matthew Gregory Hewitt: Well and, obviously, yeah, your sales team is doing a phenomenal job. If they're more than covering that. Maybe second would be what's up next for your site optimization? You've obviously made some significant progress on the checklist there, and I'm just curious what as you look at, you know, Q4, but more importantly, fiscal 2026, what's next on the site optimization side?

Robert W. Leasure: Well, I'd like to say less and we have been trying to focus less on brick and mortar changes. And more in some fine-tuning, of what we exactly what we have. So we have these, you know, three or four facilities we're moving now and one that we're significantly improving. That will be significant. We'll continue to improve our facilities in Alice, Texas. As we increase the, you know, the, some of the service work we do down there that does increasing demand, that we probably increase those facilities. And then right now, what we're looking at is how do we fine-tune the facilities that we have.

Relocating some work without moving brick and mortar, but relocating work and how do we do a better job for a client serving our client, how do we open up additional capacity. So it's one thing that we you know, when you're making these macro changes, and that, like, is to really focus on some of the smaller changes, but that are very significant. And how do we get more capacity out of existing facilities? And so before we get back into the brick and mortar game, right now, I don't think we have any more significantly old facilities to close.

This is the last big one, but I do think we have a lot of tweaks we can make in order to improve upon the existing facilities that we do have, and that will be the focus. That's great. Thank you.

Operator: And we can take our next question from David Howard Windley with Jefferies. Your line is open.

David Howard Windley: Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I wondered first, Bob, if you could talk about the mix of bookings that you're seeing relative to your book of business you've called out you know, new services added a couple quarter, maybe more quarters. About momentum in biotherapeutics. And medical device was another call out today. You know, are the bookings even more overweighted in those new service directions than the current revenue?

Robert W. Leasure: Yeah. So we've seen bookings yet and the revenues yet to catch up with some of the bookings that we recorded last quarter. But we had seen over the last two quarters prior to that, we'd seen a beginning significant increase you know, kinda started last in the in the our first fiscal Q1 in discovery, kinda continued into Q2, and then it really ballooned quite a bit into Q3. So Discovery being up 31-32% year over year is very big for us. Those disc because Discovery is probably our most fixed cost business. And that has really significant impact on our ability to create margins and create money to the bottom line.

It's also an area where we had expanded some of the services. We brought in scientific talent. We're very pleased with. And we developed and put in place really started developing a new sales team there. I would say in December of 2023. So it's been about eighteen months. So to see them really come together and sell, and really win new accounts and then see re-increasing sales from existing accounts has been very, very rewarding. And I think they're feeling very good about the momentum that they have. But, it is it's not just safety assessment. Our safety assessment capacity has stayed fairly full. We may see some benefit from safety assessment from pricing.

But we don't have a lot of room. You know, we've stayed at 80-85%. Terms of a lot of our safety assessment capacity. So a lot of this is in niche and scientific areas.

David Howard Windley: Got it. Shifting to NHPs. Your competitor and you have announced today a conclusion of this DOJ investigation. Obviously, that's good news to put that behind you. To put a kind of a tourniquet on the legal cost that you were incurring. I want to understand better what your freedom of movement is with NHP. So can are you now free to import from Cambodia broadly speaking? And then secondary question to that, how do you believe that any changes pending your answer to my question, but any changes to the market and market pricing that will cause as a result of these changes. Thanks.

Robert W. Leasure: Alright. You know, first of all, with the DOJ issues for us, think, were resolved several quarters ago, and US Fish and Wildlife is, and the DOJ have never told us we cannot import from Cambodia. Matter of fact, just the opposite. They'll they told us we are free to import from Cambodia. And we haven't for the last two or three quarters. We have not imported from Cambodia. But, that also is somewhat not only up to the to the to our US government. It's also up to the Cambodian government. So and we have, you know, we have we have other good Asian supplies right now.

So we do work with people in Cambodia and along with many other countries. If we see the opportunity that we can that we can, safely import at a fair price, that's obviously something we're gonna consider. That is not transpired yet. We've not done that. I'm not aware of anybody that's done that. But I'm not aware of anybody prohibiting the in The US of prohibiting the use of imports. There may be that's a something Cambodia is also has a say in, though. So right now, I don't believe that we have any plans to change that in the next quarter. But those conversations and those site visits take place frequently, throughout the months and throughout the quarters.

And that could that could always change. So, but right now, I don't you know, I think we have plenty of ability to meet to meet the demand and we'll keep that option open, hopefully.

David Howard Windley: So on the price point, the I mean, COGS still a little elevated in NHP related activities. But I mean, yours may not have changed, but Charles River's situation definitely changed. They have inventory that is freed up. I think that inventory might have aged out of its usefulness. But seemingly, there's more inventory available than less. And I'm wondering how that impacts price going forward. Thanks.

Robert W. Leasure: Well, I can't comment on Charles River, obviously. As far as pricing, we've not seen pricing really change much in the last year. Unfortunately, it's calmed down. We've not seen price cost or pricing change much in The US. And I'm not you know, we keep track of what is in The US by you know, from the USDA and the other government statistics. And I've not seen a large increase in the amount of NHPs available. In The US. So I think for right now, it looks like things are staying pretty stable.

And I don't see, unless Cambodia does open and they change pricing and Cambodia chooses how they export, I'm not sure that we see it changing next year. So there are a lot of factors that go in there. I'm not I'm not gonna get in all of them to our to our on this on this call. But right now, we don't see a change in pricing.

Operator: Thank you.

Beth A. Taylor: Before our next question, we do have a correction to our cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended June 30, 2024. I read this as $14.4 million but it was $4.4 million. So, operator, please continue.

Operator: Certainly. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press the. And we can move next to Frank James Takkinen with Lake Street Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Frank James Takkinen: Great. Thanks for taking the questions. I was hoping to follow-up on some of the Discovery commentary. Obviously, you just mentioned that's your largest fixed cost, business. Was hoping you could help maybe put some metrics around what incremental growth in that business would translate to from an EBITDA perspective. I realize you're not providing forward EBITDA commentary at this point, but just kinda understanding just how much leverage is in that business as some of the strong orders you've seen start to translate to revenue.

Robert W. Leasure: Yes. So let me go back in the we saw a strong increase but it's not back to the levels it was two or three years ago. So, and it's this had a pretty dramatic impact on our margins and our bottom line. When we saw those sales deteriorate. So we're now getting back very quickly, I should say, if we can continue this growth to levels we were two or three years ago. But, in terms of you know, if you were to say safety assessment, you have incremental bottom line. It goes to the bottom line of the 50 to of variable contribution of 50 to 60%.

And in the discovery, because the fixed cost nature, we could see incremental bottom line as high as, 70 to 80%.

Frank James Takkinen: Got it. That's helpful. And then I think we've talked about kinda some of the metrics you have recently started track around kinda customer satisfaction, on-time delivery of services. Can you maybe recap some of those metrics for the most recent quarter and, the importance of just that and how it translates to new business awards from those customers.

Robert W. Leasure: Well, during the Investor Day, I think we alluded to some of these. And one of the great advantages of having a lot of new and improved systems as we have very much better metrics. And so think we talked about this a little bit. When we had in Investor Day is that when we first started together, we had 14 sites. That were operating as 14 individual sites. And many times, we have now customers who are using multiple sites. Three, four sites. I think 60, 70% of our customer base may use multiple sites.

So that's you check that You and Brandon there, if you could check that number for me, what because I know we talked about that during the investor day. One of the things that's important to is, though, if we're we how do we act like one company? And if they're gonna use multiple sites, how do we make that seamless for them they're getting the one company experience? So we're feel like they're working with three companies. And then when we do that, how do we communicate internally? And then how do we make sure we deliver that on time?

So first, the systems we had to develop the systems to be able to track this, to communicate it, and then be able to track it. So now when we did when we were growing three years ago, could grow but we weren't didn't have the sophistication in the pricing systems the management systems, and the on-time delivery. Now we have that as so when we're seeing growth now, I continue to focus on this because I think one of the mistakes we made three years ago was we grew very quick. But it didn't mean we are always meeting our customer expectations. And we didn't have a way to track that as scientifically as we do today.

And we didn't have a way to price it as scientifically as we do today. And that and so those were those were some much more improved controls that we have today. And, as a result, I can now see daily our on-time delivery. And if we're late on something, how many days late and why, and we go back and drive the root cause. So I would without giving I don't think we've ever given those dramatic, but we are significantly better today. And I'm actually very, very proud of the on-time delivery we have today. It's improved significantly over the last two years, specifically over the last years that we have much better matrix to track this.

And once we started tracking it, we could see it improve. And I think that also has something to do with why we are seeing an increasing amount of revenue and orders with existing customers. So again, most of our customers are small, medium pharma or the biotech. And, and as they have a positive experience, and they can see that we can communicate and deliver on time, then it really improves the fact that we have a reoccurring and stable customer base. So but I will say that we are significantly better than we were a year ago. We're not 100%, but we're striving for 100%. And we're a lot closer to it than we've ever been.

Frank James Takkinen: Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just one last one, related to cash. I heard the comment about some NHP stocking that took some cash out this quarter. Was curious if you could maybe talk to cash flow expectations going forward as some of that those NHPs maybe convert to revenue and what that does to your cash balance?

Robert W. Leasure: Well, I think what we will do is, if possible, we'll probably maintain a higher level of NHPs than we have in the past. We were running very thin, and they think that was and, I think our customers would like to see that we had a little bit more inventory, so we now are carrying a little bit more inventory. And I think we'll continue to carry more inventory. I think as it comes to evaluating our balance sheet, you know, we will look if this is if this is the new normal we wanna carry in inventory. Yes. We could convert some of this to cash if we needed to. Frank.

But I think if we want this to be the new normal, and when we evaluate how we wanna improve our balance sheet, we may need to plan for this to be the new normal and plan accordingly. So I you know, right now, if we needed to if we need to slow down the imports and slow down what we're doing, we could do that and convert it to cash. But, you know, I think what we're looking to is make sure we have made a much more stable environment to take care of our customers' needs.

Frank James Takkinen: Got it. That's helpful. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator: And this does conclude the question and answer session. I'd like to turn the program back over to Robert W. Leasure for any closing remarks.

Robert W. Leasure: Alright. Thank you. As you can tell, we're very encouraged by these results. And the recent growth we've seen in our DSA. Business or quoting awards over the last two quarters. And this as this growth develops, we will need to remain vigilant on delivering an exceptional experience service, and product for our clients as I just outlined. We made progress towards achieving the financial goals we outlined during our investor day and we're also part and as I said, we're gonna prioritize the strategic review of our capital structure, improving our balance sheet. As I said in the past, we are a much better company today than we have ever been before.

We still feel like we have a plan for much further improvement in the future. So thank you very much for your time today, We'll look forward to talking to many of you later. Thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's program. You may disconnect at any time.