BRKR Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:
Dear Fellow Bruker Shareholders,
Under challenging market conditions Bruker achieved nearly $3
billion of revenue in 2023, with 14.5% organic revenue growth,
an industry-leading performance. Fiscal year 2023 marks our third
consecutive year of double-digit organic revenue growth, a testament
to our differentiated innovation strategy and culture of disciplined
entrepreneurialism.
In 2023 we continued to prioritize key investments in new product
development, capacity expansion and productivity, and in selected,
strategic bolt-on acquisitions. We delivered $2.58 of non-GAAP EPS,
with 10.3% growth over 2022. Bruker also generated strong cash flow
in 2023, with free cash flow increasing by $98 million year-over-year.
Our return on invested capital (ROIC), a non-GAAP measure, was
20.6%, a metric that highlights our focus on meaningful shareholder
value creation. We exited the year with strong backlog, underpinning
our expectations for a solid year 2024 in our on-going transformation
into a high-growth company, and an emerging life-science tools
industry leader with research solutions for the post-genomic era.
Expanding our Project Accelerate 2.0 Initiatives
An important pillar of Bruker s core strategy is to strengthen our
position in six fast revenue growth and significant margin expansion
opportunities that we call Project Accelerate 2.0. In 2023, we again
made excellent progress across our initiatives, and expanded others
- in some cases through strategic acquisitions. Selected highlights
include:
Launch of IDS division - In 2023, our BioSpin Group launched a
new Integrated Data Solutions (IDS) division, focused on scientific
software, lab digitization and lab automation. IDS introduced its
SciY platform of advanced, vendor-agnostic software solutions for
scientific data analysis, data management, R&D and QC workflow
automation in the life science and biopharma market.
Acquisition of Bruker Cellular Analysis (BCA) In early October
2023, we completed the acquisition of PhenomeX, now renamed
BCA, a functional cell biology business that provides single-cell
biology research tools to deliver insights into cellular function,
phenomes and genotype-to-phenotype linkages. This acquisition is
a step in our portfolio transformation in the NANO Group towards
the life sciences, and complements our existing spatial biology
offering.
Acquisition of Biognosys Early in 2023, we acquired a majority
in Biognosys, a proteomics CRO services and software provider.
Biognosys offers synergy opportunities with expert proteomics
services, software and kits, and Bruker s pioneering timsTOF 4D
proteomics platform.
First US 1.2 GHz NMR - Bruker installed the first 1.2 GHz NMR
in the United States at The Ohio State University, a milestone in
advancing US life science and materials research infrastructure.
It will be used by researchers at Ohio State and across the U.S.
to study advanced materials, e.g., for battery research, or the
structures and dynamics of biological macromolecules, with the
goal of advancing the understanding of underlying mechanisms of
disease.
Sustained Focus on Operational Excellence and
Productivity
In tandem with our focus on fast revenue growth and organic margin
expansion through Project Accelerate 2.0, we continue with an
unrelenting focus on Operational Excellence, the second key pillar of
our strategy. We apply our Bruker Management Process and focus
on Operational Excellence in our commercial, product development,
operations, and infrastructure teams for productivity increases in
every area of our business. Operational excellence improvements in
processes, systems and efficiency are an important driver of further
enhancements in our financial performance.
Outlook for 2024
Bruker s strong growth over the last three years is the result of our
foundational commitment to innovating high-value solutions for our
customers as partners. Our technology and applications leadership in
many areas, combined with portfolio transformation and world-class
execution position us well for continued outperformance as a leader in
the post-genomic era.
The commitment and passion of our customers, colleagues,
shareholders, and collaborators is vital to our success, and I would like
to thank all of you for your contributions to Bruker over the past year.
I look forward to sharing our future progress and achievements.
Sincerely,
Frank H. Laukien, Ph.D.
Chairman, President & CEO
Bruker Corporation
5/15/2024 Letter Continued (Full PDF)