So that’s how I think about the kind of the phasing of what’s going on in the market. And then, the other thing that I wouldn’t just note about the quarter, which was very positive is that, it actually played out as we expected, right, including the four end-markets and that’s good because that means the normal incredible visibility and predictability that you typically have in this business is returning, which is helpful as well.
Mike Ryskin: Okay. That’s really helpful. And Doug asked about lab products and services. Let me focus on analytical instruments. You called out electron microscopy continue to do very well there. But — and you do have really tough comps, but maybe you could focus a little bit on chromatography, mass spec. What are you seeing there from an end-market perspective? There’s been a lot of concern about pharma, CapEx budgets and sort of how they’re trending in 2024. So, any early comments you can say about that part of the portfolio? Thanks.
Marc Casper: Yeah. So, Mike, when I think about analytical instruments, we had a really good quarter and it’s against a very, very strong comparison, which is why I called it out because compared to the high-teens growth last year, it’s important to flag it. Let me start with electron microscopy, then I’ll get to chroma mass spec. So, electron microscopy, that business has been performing at a great level, continues to have strong order book, and just doing a really good job and I feel great about that. When I think about chromatography and mass spectrometry, they as well have incredibly strong comparisons. We’re getting really good uptake on the Astral and really have had some milestone level of shipments on that product over the first nine months of [owning — launching] (ph) it.
So, that’s gone well. Most of our business is in the high-end research portion, which has done well for us. We have a little bit less exposure to kind of the more routine applications. You know, I did flag one product that we launched, which is really quite relevant. As you know, we’re the very strong market leader in ion chromatography. You hear a lot about PFAS testing, things of this sort and we launched the next generation of instrumentation there, which is great just given how large our fleet is around the world and that product is off to a great start. So, I feel good about the outlook for the different pieces. And I highlighted a couple of interesting launches in chemical analysis, the smallest of the three businesses where we’re enabling battery production and really trying to change the way that QAQC is done in pharmaceutical manufacturing by having raw materials inspected at the factory versus doing lab testing and the Handheld Raman Analyzer does that.
So, really great innovation drives growth in the business and a really good performance to start the year.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Jack Meehan with Nephron Research. Your line is open.
Jack Meehan: Good morning, guys. I wanted to keep digging in on the pharma businesses here. So, the first question is on clinical research. You called out strong growth. Just a clarification, is this inclusive of the COVID headwinds you’ve talked about before? The tone sounds more positive. Any comments around what you’re seeing would be great.
Marc Casper: Yes, there’s no adjustments to any of that. It’s just business just grew through that. And when I think about the year, when I think about the guidance that some — the assumptions embedded in the guidance, we reminded our investors that we had the largest role in clinical research on supporting the pandemic response. We also had in parallel incredible growth in the business and really just an excellent start and excellent execution to deliver strong growth in the quarter. And while we expect this business will moderate this year relative to the last few years, just the momentum it has bodes extremely well for the mid-term of high single-digit growth business plus synergies. So, the team has done a great job of becoming part of the company, leveraging our relationships, and getting really strong commercial momentum. So really nice start to the year.
Jack Meehan: Awesome. And then on the pharma services side, there’s been a little bit of a competitive shakeup with Novo’s proposed acquisition of Catalent. Can you just talk about your win rates at Patheon and how you feel about the runway for future tech transfers?
Marc Casper: Yeah. So, Jack, when I think about pharma services, the business has performed very well. And when I think about the industry dynamics that have gone on, in an area that we’re the market leader, sterile fill-finish where we put the medicine or vaccine in its final dosage form. Effectively, you have one of the pure-play competitors being taken out of the CDMO business effectively or less so. And that in an area where capacity is constrained already, it bodes really well for our business as the market leader and great reputation. Our activity level is high. The number of dialogue we’re having with our customers is high. We’re securing new business. So, I feel great about it. And our job is — as the trusted partner, is to enable our customer success, right?
And our customers think in decades in this industry and when there’s events that make them uncertain, whether it’s Biosecure or whether it’s an acquisition of one of the suppliers, they look at the industry leader and say, this is a company that doesn’t create uncertainty, it does a great job and those things ultimately allow us to better support our customers going forward.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Rachel Vatnsdal with JPMorgan. Your line is open.
Rachel Vatnsdal: Okay. Good morning and congratulations on the quarter. So, I wanted to dig into the comments around China stimulus a little bit more. Just on one hand, the language around the stimulus is fairly broad, but this tranche also appears to be 2.5 times the dollar amount of the stimulus package that benefited last year. So, can you walk us through what are you hearing from customers regarding the stimulus? Are you working on proposals with customers yet? Or have you even seen any orders related to that stimulus come through, albeit it’s probably a bit early for that? And then just to follow up on those comments around the timeline for stimulus, if we look at what happened last year, the stimulus was actually announced in September ’22, but we really didn’t see an impact until early 2023.
