Operator: And our next question will come from the line of Matt Stanton from Jefferies.
Matt Stanton: Maybe one on China. Mid-teens growth in Multiomics was nice to see. Clearly, it’s been a challenging market for the broader tool space. Can you unpack a bit more what you’re seeing in China, what’s kind of underpinning that demand and then what you’re penciling in China for the year?
Steve Schwartz: Yes. So Matt, this is Steve. When we look at China, there’s been a really outperformance for the past 4 quarters. We’ve been in double digits growth in China when the market has been down significantly each of the last 4 quarters. I’ll give you a couple of things. One, being in China is serving Chinese customers is a big deal. We’re right in the middle of Suzhou and there are hundreds, if not 1,000 life sciences companies close by. We’re staffed with really outstanding scientists and really aggressive sales teams who serve the customers particularly well. When the GENEWIZ team was founded and all the way until we acquired them and beyond, their driving force is solid science, superior service. And I think they really apply that in China.
And so as other competitors have struggled, we picked up that business. And as we build capacity, we have a new facility there. We have an enormous amount of capacity built into China. It allows us to also serve larger customers because we have the capacity to take on contracts that we couldn’t when we’re a smaller entity. So I think it’s just aggressive and aggressive sales and huge capability that allows us to be successful in China. Similarly, it’s where we perform our synthetic biology. So the synthesis businesses from China, and as we’ve built capacity and capability, they serve most of our global capacity. And I think just the better they get, that’s a market that’s booming for all of us. There’s a lot of business to be had. We continue to win it by serving the customers with high quality and fast turn even though we do it in China.
And I think that’s proven to be particularly successful. So better business in China for China and from China for the rest of the world, both businesses have done particularly well.
Matt Stanton: That’s helpful. And maybe one on instruments, which remain a bit challenged. Any signs you’re seeing that we’re at or near the bottom, whether it be orders, just kind of a change in conversations with customers? I guess, any more color or visibility on when things could improve and maybe return to growth, understanding there’s start to go up against some easier comps there, too?
Steve Schwartz: Yes, that’s — you said instruments, you mean the Consumables and Instruments part of the business?
Matt Stanton: Yes, exactly.
Steve Schwartz: Okay. Because yes, instruments for some people is our tools business also. I think our stores and storage businesses are particularly strong. On the Consumables and Instruments, Herman mentioned that we saw a pretty strong uplift in orders towards the end of the quarter, and they came in time that we couldn’t necessarily get them all solved. I will tell you that we could feel the momentum starting to pick up. And if anything, I think we had anticipated the orders coming a little bit earlier in the quarter. But in general, we’re positive that we’re out of the depleted backlog situation, people are starting to take supply now. So we don’t have the proof points in front of us right now, but we’ve got a good order pattern here in the near term. And it feels like that we’re up off the mat here in the Consumables and Instruments business. Herman, anything to add?
Herman Cueto: Yes. I mean, maybe, Matt, just a little bit of color. Revenue and bookings for instruments in the quarter was soft and we saw capital spending continue to be constrained. However, the pipeline continues to look really strong, indicating that demand is healthy, it’s just tied up in spending delays. And on the consumables side, it was very strong. We saw significant double-digit sequential and year-over-year increases in bookings. And the bookings number in Q2 was the highest that we’ve seen since the pandemic. So it’s — the instruments are caught up in capital funding. That hasn’t changed. We do hear that biotech funding, as an example, is starting to loosen up. We expect that there will be a lag there between that funding starting to happen and orders coming through. So we’re just right in the same way as everybody else on that instrument side.
Operator: I’m not showing any further questions in the queue. I’d like to turn the call back over to Herman for any closing remarks.
Herman Cueto: Well, thanks, everybody. I appreciate you joining the call today. I want to have a say a big thank you to Steve for leading this wonderful company for 14 years. We look forward to working with you over the next several months until your successor is identified. Big shoes to fill, as I said in the prepared remarks. But thank you to the 3,500-plus employee associates around the world. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.
