On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. — ticker symbol CRL. Reading current and past CRL letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  4/2/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  3/30/2023 CRL Stockholder Letter
 •  3/29/2024 CRL Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Biotechnology" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  CRL Benford's Law Stock Score = 89

CRL Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

Annual Report 2024
Charles River Laboratories
(781) 222-6000 | www.criver.com
Because every moment matters
Annual Report 2024 | Charles River Laboratories

01
Corporate Information
Board of Directors
Because every moment matters
Our vision is to pioneer new and innovative
solutions that help our clients tackle one of
the toughest barriers to the success of their
new therapies   drug development timelines.
We stand at a defining moment in our industry   where digital innovation,
an unwavering commitment to patient safety, and the pursuit of alternative
technologies are converging to reshape the future of drug development.
Scientific and technological breakthroughs are not just accelerating discovery;
they are redefining what   s possible.
At Charles River, we embrace this transformation as a catalyst for progress.
JAMES C. FOSTER
4,6
Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer
Charles River Laboratories
NANCY C. ANDREWS M.D., Ph.D. 3,4,5
Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer
Boston Children   s Hospital
ROBERT J. BERTOLINI 1,6
Former President & Chief Financial Officer
Bausch & Lomb Incorporated
RESHEMA KEMPS-POLANCO 2,6
Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Novartis US
DEBORAH T. KOCHEVAR, Ph.D., D.V.M., D.A.C.V.C.P. 3,4,5
Dean Emerita, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Tufts University
GEORGE LLADO 1,3,5
Former Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
MARTIN MACKAY, Ph.D. 4,5
Co-Founder & Non-Executive Chair
Rallybio Corporation
GEORGE E. MASSARO
1,2
With an unmatched portfolio built on world-class science, we don   t just
Lead Independent Director, Charles River Laboratories
Former Vice Chairman, Huron Consulting Group, Inc.
support drug development   we elevate it. Every study is approached with the
CRAIG B. THOMPSON, M.D. 4,5,6
same care and dedication as if it were our own, ensuring integrity, scientific
Former President & Chief Executive Officer
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
excellence, and innovation at every step.
RICHARD F. WALLMAN 2,6
Bringing a new therapy from discovery to patients is a journey filled with
complexity, but also with extraordinary potential. We are committed to
breaking barriers, streamlining timelines, and driving the next wave of
Former Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Honeywell International, Inc.
VIRGINIA M. WILSON 1,2,3
Former Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)
faster and more efficiently.
JAMES C. FOSTER
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.
251 Ballardvale Street
Wilmington, MA 01887
(781) 222-6000
www.criver.com | ir.criver.com
Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer
VICTORIA L. CREAMER
Executive Vice President &
Chief People Officer
BIRGIT GIRSHICK
Executive Vice President &
Chief Operating Officer
JOSEPH W. LaPLUME
Executive Vice President
Corporate Development & Strategy
SHANNON M. PARISOTTO
Executive Vice President
Global Discovery & Safety Assessment
FLAVIA PEASE
Executive Vice President &
Chief Financial Officer
BRIAN BATHGATE, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
European Safety Assessment
MATTHEW L. DANIEL
Senior Vice President, General Counsel,
Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer
KERSTIN DOLPH
Senior Vice President
Manufacturing
COLIN S. DUNN, Ph.D., B.V.M.S.
Senior Vice President
Global Research Models & Services
KRISTEN M. EISENHAUER
Senior Vice President &
Chief Commercial Officer
JULIE FREARSON, Ph.D.
JOHN C. HO, M.D.
Senior Vice President &
Chief Strategy Officer
We don   t just envision the future of drug development. We   re shaping it.
Committee Memberships
1. Audit Committee
2. Compensation Committee
3. Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
4. Responsible Animal Use Committee
5. Science and Technology Committee
6. Strategic Planning and Capital Allocation Committee
Charles River Laboratories
Investor Relations
Senior Vice President &
Chief Scientific Officer
innovation, so that the life-changing treatments of tomorrow reach patients
Because when it comes to improving lives, every moment matters.
Corporate Officers
MICHAEL G. KNELL
Senior Vice President &
Chief Accounting Officer
MARK MINTZ
Senior Vice President &
Chief Information Officer
Independent Accountants
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
101 Seaport Boulevard, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 530-5000
Shareholder Services
Computershare
PO Box 43006
Providence, RI 02940-3006
(877) 282-1168
www.computershare.com/investor
Overnight Delivery
Computershare
150 Royall Street, Suite 101
Canton, MA 02021
Stock Listing
The common stock of the Corporation
is traded under the symbol CRL on the
New York Stock Exchange

02
As we look back on 2024, we do so
with gratitude for the dedication of our
employees, the trust of our clients, and the
continued support of our shareholders.
James C. Foster
Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer
To Our Shareholders
This year, we enhanced our role as a trusted partner for our
clients    drug discovery and non-clinical development programs.
Our ability to deliver our leading suite of services and products
has led clients to continue to choose to partner with Charles
River for our flexible and efficient outsourcing solutions,
broad scientific capabilities, and global scale. Our unwavering
commitment to accelerating the pace of biomedical research
has allowed us to support our clients    quests to bring therapies
to patients more efficiently, while taking significant action to
drive our own internal efficiency.
2024 was another year of progress at Charles River when we
demonstrated the resilience of our organization during a time
that was not without its challenges. Globally, biopharmaceutical
clients intensified their actions around restructuring initiatives
aimed at improving efficiency. They reprioritized drug
development programs and focused on late-stage clinical
pipelines. These actions led to constrained spending on
discovery and early-stage development.
The impetus for these actions was a combination of factors
including the macroeconomic slowdown, pending drug patent
expirations, and the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act
(IRA) on drug pricing. In addition, while small and mid-sized
biotechnology companies benefited from a more favorable
funding environment in fiscal year 2024, recovery for this client
base has occurred at a more gradual pace than anticipated,
due in part to uncertainty around future funding levels and the
broader interest rate environment.
Despite the challenging market environment, or in fact because
of it, many of our global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology
clients chose to benefit from the long-term value of strategic
outsourcing. Our clients continued to rely on their relationships
with Charles River to enhance their drug discovery and earlystage development efforts and to assist them in bringing
new drugs to market by improving their operating efficiency,
speed to market, and access to capabilities that they do not
maintain internally. However, because of their more cautious
view with regard to early-stage R&D spending, revenue from
both global biopharmaceutical clients and small and mid-sized
biotechnology clients declined in fiscal year 2024.
Importantly, our long-term vision remains unchanged:
to help our clients bring life-changing therapies to market
as quickly and safely as possible. Whether supporting
global biopharmaceutical companies, small and mid-sized
biotechnology firms, or academic institutions, we take pride in
the critical role we play in the development of new treatments
for patients in need. Our ability to provide an integrated suite
of solutions   from early discovery through safety assessment
and manufacturing   has never been more valuable, as the
industry increasingly seeks end-to-end partners to streamline
drug development. We are confident that the long-term,
underlying fundamentals for our Company remain intact and
that biopharmaceutical demand for preclinical services will
eventually return.
As we look back on 2024, we do so with gratitude for the
dedication of our employees, the trust of our clients, and
Annual Report 2024

03
Financial Results
($ in millions, except per share data)
$4,129
$4,050
$3,976
$3,540
$2,924
$532
$380
$502
$330
$365
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Revenue
Free Cash Flow*
$9.48 $9.22
$486 $475
$364
$391
$7.20
$7.60
$0.20
$10
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Net Income**
$531
the continued support of our shareholders. It is through our
collective efforts that Charles River has been able to navigate
challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and remain a driving
force in scientific innovation. Looking ahead, we remain
committed to building on our successes, expanding our
capabilities, and reinforcing our position as the global leader
in the preclinical development space.
Earnings Per
Diluted Share**
$571 $549
$533
$412
$10.32
$11.12
$10.67 $10.32
$8.13
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Non-GAAP
Net Income*
Non-GAAP Earnings
Per Diluted Share*
* In accordance with Regulation G, reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP
amounts can be found on pages A and B.
** 2024 net income and earnings per diluted share (GAAP) include a goodwill impairment
of $215.0 million, or $4.16 per share, related to the Biologics Solutions reporting unit.
Charles River Laboratories
Financial Results and Decisive Actions
While innovation and scientific leadership are at the core of
our mission, we also recognize the importance of financial
discipline. In 2024, our financial results reflected the challenges
that we confronted as a result of our clients    budgetary
constraints, as well as our efforts to mitigate the effect of
those challenges on our cost structure. Revenue was $4.05
billion, representing a 1.9% decline from the previous year
on a reported basis. Organic revenue declined 2.8%, driven
primarily by decreased study volumes in our Discovery and
Safety Assessment (DSA) segment. The non-GAAP operating
margin was 19.9% in 2024, a modest decrease from the prior
year, principally driven by lower revenue. Non-GAAP earnings
per share were $10.32, a 3.3% decrease from the prior year,
also due primarily to the decline in revenue and the operating
margin.
In response to the challenges, we aggressively and proactively
identified restructuring actions to manage costs and drive
operational efficiency. The actions will result in the reduction of
over 5% of our cost structure, more than 6% of our workforce,
and the consolidation of approximately 20 smaller sites,
and we expect they will deliver approximately $225 million
in annualized cost savings to be fully recognized in 2026.
Our decisive actions to rationalize our costs and align our

04
infrastructure with the current level of demand will position us
to emerge from this period of softer demand as a stronger and
leaner organization.
We achieved strong free cash flow generation of $501.6
million in 2024, which reflected the effectiveness of our tightly
controlled capital expenditures and disciplined working capital
management. In addition, our Board of Directors authorized
a new $1 billion stock repurchase program in August, which
allows for a balanced and flexible approach to our capital
allocation strategy. The new authorization also reflects
confidence in our long-term prospects and commitment to
protecting and enhancing shareholder value. By the end of
2024, we had repurchased $100.7 million of common stock and
we intend to repurchase an additional $350 million in 2025.
In 2024, we remained focused on driving operational
efficiencies and optimizing resources to streamline processes
across our global network. These efforts have been aimed at
protecting operating margins, which will provide long-term
value to shareholders.
Unique Non-Clinical Portfolio
At Charles River, we believe in the power of a comprehensive
portfolio of services and products that supports
biopharmaceutical companies globally to advance biomedical
research. In addition to the extensive scientific expertise
embedded in our portfolio, our end-to-end solutions support
clients throughout the drug discovery and development life
cycle, streamlining their processes and enabling them to bring
innovative therapies to market faster and more efficiently.
Efficiency and speed to market are perhaps the most significant
advantages of working with one partner across the research
continuum, because every moment matters when a potentially
life-saving therapy is making its way through the pipeline to the
patients who need it.
Our portfolio spans three distinct yet interconnected
segments   Research Models and Services (RMS), Discovery
and Safety Assessment (DSA), and Manufacturing Solutions   
each contributing to the seamless and efficient development
of new therapies. Together, these three segments form a
powerful, integrated portfolio that allows us to support the full
spectrum of drug development needs.
20,000
Employees worldwide
2,500
Discovery and Safety Assessment (DSA)
The Discovery and Safety Assessment (DSA) segment is our
largest business segment, representing 61% of total revenue.
The DSA segment provides preclinical services, including
early-stage drug discovery, pharmacology, and regulatoryrequired safety toxicology assessments. DSA plays a crucial
role in evaluating the efficacy and safety of new drug
candidates, supporting clients from the earliest stages of
research through regulatory submission.
The DSA segment faced notable challenges in 2024 due to the
weaker biopharmaceutical demand environment throughout
the year. Revenue was $2.45 billion, reflecting an organic
decrease of 6.2% from 2023. This decline was primarily due
to reduced spending by both our global biopharmaceutical and
small and mid-sized biotechnology clients, who are navigating
a constrained funding environment. In response, we intensified
our focus on cost management and strategic investments
to align with current market conditions, and on commercial
initiatives to enable a more seamless client experience across
the discovery and safety assessment continuum.
Despite the headwinds, our unmatched scientific expertise
and comprehensive suite of services continue to set us apart
and encourage clients to partner with us. The DSA segment is
extremely well-positioned to support our clients in delivering
life-saving therapies and we remain committed to delivering
the capabilities necessary to navigate the increasingly complex
landscape of drug development with speed and efficiency.
Research Models and Services (RMS)
The Research Models and Services (RMS) segment,
representing 20% of total revenue, provides high-quality
animal research models, associated services, and scientific
expertise to support drug discovery and early-stage
development. For over 75 years, Charles River has been
the industry leader in research models, enabling scientists
worldwide to conduct fundamental drug research and
preclinical studies, while also offering genetically engineered
models, laboratory animal diagnostics, and research model
support services.
The RMS segment demonstrated resilience in 2024. Revenue
was $829.4 million, essentially flat on an organic basis
Scientific professionals with
advanced degrees
130
Locations in 20+ countries
Annual Report 2024



 4/2/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)