Acutus Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFIB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Takeo Mukai: We have. So the sales under the distribution agreement calculated at the transfer price will show up as revenue. The accrual for the earn-out associated with the revenue-based milestone payments will be reported in the other line as gain on asset sale. The same way that the earn-outs under the — excuse me, the milestones for OEM qualification EU MDR filing were reported in 2022.

William Plovanic: Okay. So there will be a below the operating line thing. And then just a clarification question on OpEx. I think the comment was OpEx will be down every quarter year-over-year through the first half or first nine months. Will it also be down sequentially, or is it kind of flat lining from the fourth quarter?

Takeo Mukai: Hi, Bill. I can take that as well. It will be relatively flat. We’ve reached the exit point as we noted on the fourth quarter, exiting at 14 million. So from that point, I think that’s the only reason why we say the first nine months. We stabilize the OpEx, but we are adding — as we manage our expenses, we are adding headcount selectively especially to support some of these software improvements and our engineering efforts. And so we have a modest increase in our operating expenses. And the reason why we have the year-over-year decline for the first nine months is as you recall in the — we had the restructuring that was announced in the first quarter, and most of the reductions in the savings materialize in the second and third quarters. And for that reason, I would expect operating expenses to be relatively flat for the remainder of 2023 with a modest uptick from Q4 as we exited 2022. Hopefully that answers your question.

William Plovanic: And going back to the earlier question on Medtronic, given the fact you’re now going to transfer pricing which is a much lower gross margin. I think your commentary was that the gross margins are definitely — they will get hit in the frontend of the year, but as the Medtronic revenues ramp through the year, then we kind of get back on pace. Is that a fair way to think about it?

Takeo Mukai: Yes. So on the gross margins, that’s correct. And really the biggest driver for our gross margin improvements in 2023 will come from volumes, which the production ramp of our left-heart access products will contribute to. And so as we continue to reduce our overhead costs, and we’re seeing the effects and improvements from that, we do have high fixed costs to operate and manufacture our products. And so volume plays an important part in driving leverage. And that will be a key driver for 2023. And maybe perhaps on two other contributors or drivers for the gross margin improvements, we continue our cost reduction efforts across every single product line that we sell, which is looking at improving our labor costs for the production, improving efficiencies and the yields.

And so that will be another primary factor. And finally, as we continue to increase our revenue contribution from the U.S., the US has the highest gross margin. And so as we launch our products and have our contribution from the U.S. increase, that mix will add to the improvements in gross margins.