Amyris, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

John Melo: Steven, two things, by the way, thank you for being on the call. First of all, we never actually made public exactly what the filing date was of HSR, so important clarification. And then secondly, we have had calls with the regulators, they have gone, as expected, we haven’t perceived or we have gotten any feedback to lead €“ leave us with any concern. I think my third point is to say the timeline we have given is one that gives us a lot of confidence that we could meet or exceed. Again, I will go back to my theme a few minutes ago. I want to get us consistently beating and raising what we say. And that means milestones that we put out there. So, don’t take the 30 days to 45 days to be a direct correlation to any specific date of filing or any specific expectation we have about something we are going to hear back.

Steven Mah: Okay. That’s helpful. And then on the additional portfolio rationalization, I know you haven’t been disclosing what the molecules are. Could you give us a sense of if HSR reviews for these molecules, you are contemplating, is that going to be coming into play? Do you think or they have a smaller nature or maybe just any color if possible?

John Melo: That’s a great question. I think on the brands, on the consumer side, we do not expect them to trigger an HSR review just based on their size. I also don’t think the molecule we are in process of in the partnership in pharma triggers HSR review. And the only question is really the manufacturing JV and whether that would trigger an HSR review. And that’s one that potentially would, so I hope that helps give you a sense of scale between them.

Han Kieftenbeld: Yes. There is actually two state for your benefit. There is two kind of but there is more but to dumb it down. There is two like determining factors in determining right. One is kind of is the nature of the molecule, the ingredient or the business or the competitive nature in terms of the other party. We are dealing with one. Two is, actually there is a threshold around this and typically around $100 million so and that’s, for example, why you see the trigger around the given transaction. It’s actually not so much, there is the real competition here, but it’s also a size threshold that triggers down in HSR review.

Steven Mah: Okay, understood. Thanks for the color. And then real quick on and I know John, you talked about the headcount reduction given macro and current macro environment and appreciate the focus on cash preservation. But is the staff sufficient to maintain growth? especially Q4 consumer revenue seem to be off the mark, a bit. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Thank you.

John Melo: Sure, Steven, a couple of things right, first hitting your last point Q4 consumer revenue off the mark, I can tell you that the big brands performed very well, and really deliver what we were expecting a lot of what’s off the mark is driven by two things. First, we actually slowed down the investment in the new brands and slow down the shift to trade for some of the new brands based on our working capital tightness. So, it was purely liquidity driven, and the liquidity effect the two things marketing investment in smaller brands and shift to trade timing. And in launch phasing of those brands, so had nothing to do with the big brands. I think when it comes to people and capability. Look, a lot of us have been in business for a long time.