Transcat, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRNS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay, great. And then finally, I don’t know if you could provide me with some color also on the Canadian market in terms of what you’re seeing there and potential opportunities for the growth?

Lee Rudow: We have three labs in Canada, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. Generally speaking, I think Canada has had a really good year. Coming out of COVID, I think we’ve been pleased. They’ve hit their numbers that we’ve set as expectations. They’ve actually exceeded them in some cases. And I would expect looking at their pipelines and the general environment there, that will continue. There’s no reason to believe that it won’t at this point. But yes, Canada had a good year for us.

Mark Doheny: And we’ve mentioned, Lee, this is Mark, Mitra. At the end of last year we invested in a new Toronto lab that clearly expands our capabilities and capacity. So that’s going well and probably helping that area up there, which is very attractive.

Mitra Ramgopal: Okay. No, that’s helpful. And then maybe finally, as you wind down fiscal 2023 and look out to fiscal 2024, given — obviously, it’s a dynamic environment right now, but what do you see — if you have any, maybe a potential big or headwind for you that we should be more cognizant of.

Lee Rudow: Well, we’re always thinking about the economy when we think about interest rates and inflation. And eventually, you’ll see the impact of rising interest rates on the economy in general. As I said before in the past, as we’ve demonstrated in the past, which is probably more important even than what I say is that, we have a nice business in terms of being recession resistant is probably the best way to characterize it. Our service business is driven by that regulation. These services have to take place regardless, generally speaking, of the economy. So I think the economy will be a headwind, but I think we’re well positioned. And I would say this, we’re better positioned today than even five years ago or seven years ago, because our value proposition has gotten stronger.

The rental business, I think, is a favorable attribute in terms of uncertainty. For distribution segment we didn’t use to have that, now we do. And I think even our service business has gotten more into life sciences. Life Sciences tend to hold up well. So for a variety of reasons, I like where we are. Nothing’s perfect. Nothing’s totally recession proof. But we are in a really good position I think relative to others in our industry.

Mark Doheny: And I think the NEXA value proposition strengthens as the economic uncertainty grows well. So that’s something we didn’t have even two years ago.

Lee Rudow: That’s correct. Combination of all these things, Mitra.

Mitra Ramgopal: Great. It sounds great. Again, thanks for taking the questions and nice quarter.

Lee Rudow: Our pleasure. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from line of Ted Jackson with Northland Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Ted Jackson: Thank you and good morning. Almost all my questions have been asked. So I’m just going to ask perhaps on the Pipettes business, because it’s a business I know you all are excited about and see great growth. If you could just provide a little color around it in terms of growth trends you’re seeing, kind of where that business is going, just — basically just kind of fill in some blanks in terms of like how is it — how much is it contributing to your business? What’s the growth profile for it? And how do you see it going forward? Thanks.