Q4 2023 ATS Corporation Earnings Call
Speaker 2: Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ATS Corporation Fourth Quarter Conference Performance Color Webcast
Speaker 2: This call is being recorded on May 18th, 2023 at 8.30 AM Eastern Time.
Speaker 2: Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions.
Speaker 2: If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please raise your hand.
Speaker 2: Please press star followed by the zero for operator assistance at any time.
Speaker 2: I will now turn the call over to David Gallison, Head of Investor Relations at ATS.
Speaker 3: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I'm Nicole today, our Andrew Heider, Chief Executive Officer of ATS, and Ryan McLeod, Chief Financial Officer.
Speaker 3: Please note that our company by Slide Deck, which could be viewed via our webcast and available at atsautomation.com.
Speaker 3: We caution that the statements made on the webcast and conference call may contain forward-looking information.
Speaker 3: In our cautionary statement regarding such information, including the material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements, and the material factors or assumptions applied in making the statements are detailed and slide two of the slide deck. Now, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Andrew.
Speaker 4: Thank you David.
Speaker 5: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 5: Today, ATS reported record fourth quarter revenues and backlog, solid bookings and adjusted earnings in line with our expectations.
Speaker 5: We completed the acquisition of ZYARGIS to enhance our capabilities in Asia-Pacific.
Speaker 5: We also announced and closed the acquisition to try it unlimited.
Speaker 5: For the fiscal year as a whole, ATS drove profitable growth and achieved the highest bookings and revenues in company history.
Speaker 5: We also reported record adjusted earnings for the fiscal year, even as supply chain constraints and inflation challenged our margins.
Speaker 5: The results reported today reflect strong execution across our strategic markets.
Speaker 5: and our team's application of the ABM.
Speaker 5: to drive continuous improvement throughout the business.
Speaker 5: Next, I will update you on the business and Ryan will provide his financial report.
Speaker 5: Starting with our financial value drivers.
Speaker 5: Order bookings for the quarter for $737,000,000.
Speaker 5: up 16% year-to-year, and included 292 million of life sciences bookings, and 255 million from transportation.
Speaker 5: For the full year, bookings grew by 33%, mainly as a result of the growth in EV, in addition to solid contributions from the rest of the business.
Speaker 5: including our previous acquisitions.
Speaker 5: Q4 revenues were $731 million, up 21% from Q4 last year.
Speaker 5: For the full year, revenues increased by 18%.
Speaker 5: Adjusted earnings from operations in Q4 were $102 million, up 25% year-to-year.
Speaker 5: Full year adjusted earnings were $343 million, up 11.5% compared to fiscal 22.
Speaker 5: Ryan will provide further details in his remarks.
Speaker 5: further details in his remarks. Moving to our outlook.
Speaker 5: We've finished the quarter with backlog of $2.2 billion.
Speaker 5: Providing us with a solid base to work from and our key target markets moving into fiscal 24.
Speaker 5: Life Sciences backlog with 761 million at the end of the year.
Speaker 5: We secured a number of wins in Q4 with repeat customers.
Speaker 5: and putting assembly systems for auto injectors and contact lenses.
Speaker 5: We also brought on several new life sciences customers.
Speaker 5: doing innovative work in diverse areas such as needleless blood tests and animal health.
Speaker 5: Our final remains strong for fiscal 2024 across our major life sciences submarkets.
Speaker 5: Our synergy funnel is growing, particularly in pharmaceutical field finish.
Speaker 5: we've seen ongoing examples of collaboration across the business. Transportation ending backlog was 939 million.
Speaker 5: up 351% year-over-year, with the majority of the increase in EV applications.
Speaker 5: As previously announced in January , we booked an additional $120 million in AB orders with a strategic customer.
Speaker 5: The market for electric vehicles is dynamic, with over a decade of experience.
Speaker 5: ATS is well positioned to secure additional business with existing and new OEM customers.
Speaker 5: In the quarter, we had a key win with a new customer for smart battery assembly automation and booked an important order with another OEM on initial scope of work order.
Speaker 5: And food and beverage are funnel remains healthy, following a seasonally strong second half of the fiscal year when regenerated record backlog, including strong uptake for our energy efficient evaporators.
Speaker 5: We typically experience seasonal variation in bookings in this vertical relating to primary processing.
Speaker 5: In fiscal Q1, the team will be focused on delivering at our backlog ahead of the harvest season. In energy, a growing number of countries are committing to increase power generation from nuclear energy to meet climate-related carbon reduction targets.
Speaker 5: These commitments require long-term planning and investment.
Speaker 5: with our specialized capabilities.
Speaker 5: ATS can support industry participants in several areas. From the refurbishment of nuclear power plants.
Speaker 5: to our early involvement with small module reactors and grid battery storage solutions.
Speaker 5: By way of example, we are collaborating with Bruce Power on automated solutions to support reactor refurbishment.
Speaker 5: These efforts are focused on shortening schedules and proving safety and quality and eliminating human error, all on-hansing the overall performance of Bruce Powers' major component replacement projects.
and consumer products.
Our backlog and funnel remain stable. However, we're seeing some signs of caution in the personal care market as customers are monitoring the impact of inflationary pressures on end consumers.
On digital, all ATS businesses are working to drive innovations in our digital value proposition to our customers.
Our global teams are collaborating to share best practices and support our customers where they need it most.
Whether that's performance visualization as a starting point,
machine analytics, predictive analysis and service to improve effectiveness.
or improvements to overall productivity at the factory level or across multiple factors.
We are also driving digital innovation in several other areas, including digital twin and the support of customers, sustainability needs.
on after sales services.
Our regional networks had a strong year-over-year and provided support to customers from across the business.
Our global teams are coordinating in key focus areas and putting spares and digitally enabled services and we're seeing ongoing progress and attaching services to CapEx cells.
Growing after market revenues across HTS, including with new acquisitions, remains a priority.
The acquisition of Triad extends our lifecycle and digitally enabled service capabilities.
and our ability to help customers improve overall equipment effectiveness.
On supply chain, we've seen a reduction in some raw material costs. However, we are still experiencing price volatility and inflationary pressures.
particularly with electrical and mechanical parts.
Lead times remain extended and increased for electrical parts in the fourth quarter. Some suppliers are starting to indicate lead times could reduce later in the year, but we have not seen this materialized in our operation.
That said, for fiscal 24, we are prepared to operate with volatility in our supply chain and then the overall macro environment.
and expect some ongoing inflationary pressures.
However, our countermeasures and savings initiatives are designed to help address these issues.
We also remain focused on long-term business goals through Valuable Engineering workshops and other ongoing problem solving events as a means to drive material cost improvements that support competitiveness and long-term margin growth.
Our AVM continues to bring our people together to solve problems and drive continuous improvement.
During the quarter, we completed 59 ABM events across all business segments.
All with a clear focus on our value drivers.
In January , we held our fifth annual President's Kaizen events.
Six teams from across the company's global footprint participated to drive sustainable results.
For example,
A multi-region team created a global virtual warehouse to enhance inventory visibility across the business.
including hard to source parts.
I personally attended three President's Cies and Events in Europe , and I was encouraged.
to see such a high level of commitment, energy, and ultimately performance.
On M&A in Q4, we were pleased to welcome Trident Limited and Ziaugas, in addition to IPCOS, which joined us in Q3. These three acquisitions are expected to bolster our digital and service offerings.
And our previous acquisitions are continuing to add value.
Overall, M&A funnel development remains active and healthy across all target sizes.
sustainability.
Our customers are interested in both energy efficient automation as well as energy management solutions.
At Energy Efficient Automation, our CFT business saw continued success with Apollo evaporators due to gas price sensitivity in Europe .
Our IWK team is collaborating with customers through its packaging competence center to deliver sustainable and energy efficient packaging solutions.
For energy management solutions, our PA business successfully launched an energy management module based on the PA FACS digital platform.
For energy management solutions, our PA business successfully launched an energy management module based on the PA FACS digital platform. In addition,
Two large life sciences customers are currently working with us to pilot a module in Illuminate that will provide them with the ability to measure carbon footprint at the part level.
On innovation, we continue to deploy capital and leverage talent to create differentiated, enabling solutions that drive return.
On innovation, we continue to deploy capital and leverage talent to create differentiated enabling solutions that drive return. A few highlights from the quarter.
Our Innovate Day concept was expanded to another part of the business. And we are excited to see the benefits of this ongoing, fast-turn idea generation in a friendly competitive environment.
Our industrial automation team is developing further expertise in digital twin technology, and in particular, yeah,
specialized simulation techniques specific to our customers' needs.
CFT is developing and improving its processing techniques and the production of fruit and vegetable juices and purees or reducing overall energy consumption and carbon footprint.
Our SuperTrac Pharma Linear Motion Conveyor is being introduced to our integrated solutions offerings in life sciences, alongside platforms from ESPY and Comisar for pharmaceutical fill finish applications.
In summary, we are pleased with Q4 and overall Fiscal 23 performance in progress.
Record order backlog gives us a strong base to start fiscal 24, where we continue to build our funnel..
We expect there will be ongoing macro challenges to navigate, and we are not immune. However,
Operational execution with the ABM as our playbook, along with our choice of strategic end markets, remain important strengths and advantages for ATS.
We look forward to delivering continued profitable growth in fiscal 24, supported by the drive, ingenuity, and dedication of over 6,500 employees globally.
Now I will turn the call over to Ryan. Ryan, over to you.
Thank you Andrew and good morning everyone. Fiscal 23 performance reflected good execution in the context of supply chain and inflation challenges.
In particular, Q4 results represented a strong finish to the year and included record quarterly revenues.
This morning, I will review our operating results and then provide details on our balance sheet.
Beginning with orders, bookings were $737 million, up 15.5% compared to Q4 last year. The increase was driven by organic growth of 11%, along with 1% growth from acquired companies, and a 4% benefit from foreign exchange translation.
During the quarter, ATS booked another 120 million US dollar EV order from an existing global automotive customer as an expansion of their program.
Our trailing 12 month book to bill ratio at the end of the year was 1.26 to 1, positioning as well for continued revenue growth.
Moving to revenues, Q4 revenues were $731 million, up 21.2% over Q4 last year.
Organic revenue growth was 16.5% year-over-year and related primarily to increases in transportation.
Recently acquired companies added approximately 1% to quarterly revenue growth, and foreign exchange translation created a 3.9% benefit compared to Q4 last year.
Our Q4 ending backlog of $2.15 billion was 50% higher than Q4 last year.
With continued growth in our order backlog, including the presence of large EV programs, our revenue conversion for Q1 is estimated to be in the 32 to 35% range of backlog.
This assessment is made every quarter based on revenue expectations from existing backlog and new orders booked and billed within the quarter. Q4 adjusted gross margin was 28.9%, down 70 basis points from last year when we executed higher margin programs in backlog. Additionally, the year-over-year decrease reflected supply chain headwinds including costs of
expenses were $13.2 million higher than Q4 last year.
This quarter's costs included $17.6 million of acquisition-related amortization and $1.5 million of acquisition-related transaction costs. Excluding these comparable items in both periods, Q4's SG&A was $104.8 million, $13 million higher than last year.
primarily reflecting increased employee costs. Sequentially, excluding the same items, SG&E increased by approximately $11 million over Q3.
primarily due to increased employee costs and sales related expenses.
During fiscal 23, we announced our plan to make improvements to our cost structure through targeted reductions. Our full year restructuring expenses were $27.5 million with $15.8 million recorded in Q4.
The estimated payback period remains at approximately 18 months.
Stock-based compensation expense for Q4 was $19.3 million, but $18.5 million over Q4 last year.
Of note, some of our non-IFRS measures have now been adjusted to exclude the impact on stock-based compensation expenses of the revaluation of deferred stock units and restricted share units, resulting from a change in market price of the company's shares between periods.
We believe this adjustment provides improved insight into the company's operating performance by eliminating volatility in earnings unrelated to operations.
A full reconciliation of the adjustments for the last eight quarters has been provided in our financial filings.
Q4 adjusted earnings from operations were $101.9 million or 13.9%, up $20.3 million in 42 basis points compared to last year, primarily due to revenue growth partially offset by higher costs.
Moving to the balance sheet, in Q4, cash flows generated from operating activities were $81.4 million, an increase over the $30 million generated in Q4 last year.
Non-cash working capital as a percentage of revenue was 10.1% in Q4.
This is an improvement from 13% in Q3 and in line with our stated target of being below 15%.
Over the next several quarters, we expect our period-end working capital will continue to fluctuate as we work through billing milestones on some of our larger projects.
In fiscal 23, total investments in CapEx and intangible assets were $80.3 million.
We expect our Fiscal 24 CapEx to be in the $80 million to $100 million range in order to support growth through continued innovation and capacity to meet demand. However, there is flexibility in this plan spent.
On leverage, our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 2.7 to 1 as of the end of Q4. As noted previously, our target leverage range is 2 to 3 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA. We are willing to temporarily increase beyond that threshold to support short-term working capital requirements.
or for an acquisition that fits within our framework and creates value for shareholders.
Our focus is on maintaining a healthy balance sheet that allows us the flexibility to meet our strategic goals. In summary, ATS produced strong results in the quarter, highlighting the value of the ABM and the advantage of serving growing and diversified strategic markets.
We continue to move our value creation strategies forward with organic and inorganic investments and measures to counter supply chain issues and cost inflation, which remain challenges in our business.
Our record order backlog supports our planned growth into Fiscal 24, and our teams remain focused and motivated on delivering value for customers and shareholders through innovation and disciplined execution.
Now we will open the call to questions from our analysts. Operator, could you please provide instructions? Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touch tone phone.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touch tone phone. You will hear a three tone prompt acknowledging your request.
Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys.
One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Michael Glenn Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So just to start, Andrew, I just want to drill down into the life sciences vertical a bit more. And you highlighted the auto injector when in your opening remarks, you just speak about.
or give some insight into the relative size of your auto injector business right now and what type of growth do you see from this business say over the next two to three years?
Yeah, good morning. Look, this area, first and foremost, our funnel continues to remain strong in life sciences, and auto injectors, while we've been in this space for a while, have really shown expansion in the new solution sets into the end market, and we're seeing...
on the real opportunity, it is a strong potential and one that we view as the market shifts to newer solutions, newer products, and get FDA approval on these products. ATS can really support our customers as they navigate this space.
And your expectation overall though would be that like your auto injector business would over index your organic growth over the next few years. That would be your expectation.
Yes, so I would say in general if you step back and look at our life sciences business we have many areas that we view have strong tail and strong potential and while we do view this as one opportunity and one we would put in the higher camp there are several areas that that will draw on life sciences that we view we have
perhaps give some insight into how we should think about margins trending from that business as it ramps higher and that cloud conversion takes place.
Yes, so I guess I'll start. I mean, the margins in that business, I think I've talked about are really in line with our corporate average. And that's been an area of growth for ATS over the last year.
It's going to continue to be an area of growth given the strong performance on bookings and backlog. In general, on the gross margin line, as I said, it's in line. There's some operating leverage available in that business as it scales up or continues to scale.
we will realize but overall I would say it's very much in line with the rest of the business. Thanks for taking the questions. I'll jump back.
in the queue. Thank you. The next question comes from David Ocampo of Coremark Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone.
Good morning. Andrew, if I take a look at the outlook section in your release, I think for the second straight quarter now you guys have flagged onshoring and reshoring as a positive tailwind here. So I'm just curious, have you seen any of your customers pull the trigger because of these themes or when do you expect that to become a bigger theme or when does it expect to show up in the results for ATS?
You know, so to give an exact example.
would be more of a challenge. And what do I mean by that? There is many dynamics that customers are going through right now. And let me just walk those a little bit. One is this onshore and reshoring. That's real with our customers, but additional, they're looking at their supply chain risk.
And they're looking at areas where, and what customers will often say is they're looking at areas where they can build capability, build
their capacity where they have the demand. And so those are really a bit more on the conversation. And so while we do view this as an opportunity, it's really aligned with how our customers think strategically about their products. And oftentimes they'll build capability in North America, and then they'll take that capability and...
but it really aligns with the customer's desire to really launch new solutions in the markets that they support.
Okay, got it. That makes sense. And then maybe just a clarification question for Ryan. I mean, I take a look at the backlog turnover. Last quarter, you guys were guiding for 29 to 32 percent, came in closer to 34. Can you walk us through what led for the higher turnover? Was it FX or programs getting pulled forward?
Yeah, so so so a couple things and those are those are two of them but.
If we compare to the high end of the range, you're right. Roughly half of that was good program performance and executing ahead of expectation. We talked about some of the supply chain challenges and our teams have really done an excellent job in overcoming some of those.
There was also a foreign exchange translation benefit relative to where we finished the prior quarter. And then there was also a small impact from acquisitions that weren't part of our backlog. But the main driver, as I said, was really good program performance in the quarter.
Got it. Those are my two. I'll hop back in the queue. Thanks everyone.
Got it. Those are my two. I'll hop back in the queue. Thanks, everyone. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Cheryl Lynn Radburn of TD Cohen. Please go ahead. Thanks very much and good morning.
You've recorded some absolutely massive EV bookings over the past 12 months, largely with one customer. So it was really nice to see some new customers in the EV bookings this quarter. Can you give us some perspective at a high level on the potential for follow on odors from those customers and the associated timeline?
Yeah, and Sherlyn, you know, we're obviously proud and pleased with the progress in this space. And, you know, as a reminder, and I had in my prepared remarks that we've been in for over a decade. The cool is that we're policies and you know, typically in this, this place, a lot of Oldseat drywall, which is almost as great. And that is definitely the most ambiguous thing that ourC wounded.
And so we did, you know, many customers start, and just to walk through the general process for customers when they engage with ATS is they'll often start with a pilot production line, and we saw, caught a couple of those wins within the quarter. Stop the location data and register your brand. Administratooooooooite movement! Alright guys we're heading outside.
It really does depend on the OEM or the customer working with it with how fast the follow-on work happens. Sometimes they'll wait to the end of the project and install and align around that or at times they'll pull in.
What I can say is it does depend on the customer from a standpoint of when they trigger a follow-on. We target customers that we view have follow-on. That is the goal. That is the target. And we do view these new wins as having potential follow-on work. All that said, we need to execute and we need to prove out the value for these customers. Okay. That is helpful, Color.
And then based on what you're seeing, how long do you think it will be before your supply chain kind of normalizes? And is there anything that ATS itself plans to do differently going forward to add resiliency to its own supply chain? Yes, so, you know, to put a number…
back and look. Raw materials and certain areas within the supply chain have come back more in line with what we would expect. What we've seen in some areas continue to be challenging. To call one specifically would be really electrical components. Continue to be a bit of a challenge for our business.
All that said, we continue to drive our supply chain as a competitive advantage, and we look at areas for opportunity. And one of the areas we implemented early on...
was our daily visual management and identifying where we potentially have gaps to ensure we minimize what the impact is, and first and foremost on customers and in the margins of the program. And so we've continued to execute here. We do view this as going to be a challenging environment.
for the remainder of the calendar year. That said, we do view that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and our team is focused around executing and really delivering on what we set out to achieve for our customers and ultimately our performance.
As we look at our own supply chain, we have taken initiative, we have taken drive into
really how we want to rethink and continue to evolve. You know, one of the areas we do now that we might not have done in the past as detailed, as structured.
looking at the predictive aspect of when we need a product and or when a product might be short and what do I mean? We'll look at each project, each individual area and then determine where we potentially have inventory to fill that gap to ensure that we don't slow down production. Additionally, where we have higher risk, higher risk componentry.
we at times will have a secondary source. And we've done that in the past, but we've been more aggressive and continue to be more aggressive around identification and pursuit of minimizing impact.
And so I do view our business as really continued to evolve and outpace, but it's one that we are looking to really drive and continue to drive within the year. Great. That's my cue. Thank you.
And so I do view our business as really continued to evolve and outpace, but it's one that we are looking to really drive and continue to drive within the air. Great. That's my cue. Thank you. Thank you, Sherlin.
The next question comes from Maxim Sychov of National Bank Financial. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning gentlemen. Good morning.
And if I may, the first question in terms of healthcare and how you're thinking about the resiliency of the outlook and I guess specifically the question is, you know, how much exposure do you have to sort of the biotech space, which would be sort of more dependent on external funding right now.
really seen that and we don't see that in our life sciences where we see opportunity and where we continue to see opportunities in the biologics and really the alignment around the growth.
of what these drugs, what these new solutions offer, and we're often aligned with that. And if you look at the radio pharmaceutical with this new Arcanium 225 and what that can mean, as well as, and I mentioned the auto injector earlier.
we align with areas that have higher growth and areas that are really aligned with strategic focus for our customers.
And so I would say that that's the case in all areas that we target for expansion within our life sciences business. And then just as a follow-up to biologics, I mean are you seeing outsize growth in this area specifically?
We're seeing good opportunities in this area specifically. To say outsized growth, I would say it's in line with our overall opportunity for life sciences.
Okay, okay. Thank you. And then my other question pertains to the free cash flow generation. And I think Ryan, you spoke about this maybe last quarter, sort of about that non-cash working capital cadence. And at what point do you have to ramp up in order to see sort of the milestone payments starting to sort of come through and start to be...
you know 50% of you know revenues as a working capital dynamic. Thanks.
I'll start there. That is our goal to maintain working capital below 15%. As you are aware, we did exceed that target in Q2 and then we've drawn back down to 10%. The second half of the year was strong for the cash flow generation.
perspective as we expected. That said, we have normal variability in our business and cash flows and that's part of having the project-based business and the milestones and the large projects that are part of our business today that drives a larger variability than what we've seen in the past.
as we're executing these large programs that have large milestone payments attached to them. All that said, we have very good customer relationships, programs are executing well, the payments are being made in accordance with contracts, and so we are pleased with our progress here.
how you guys are thinking about maybe EBITDA or net income to FTF conversion on a normalized basis. I'm not sure if you have some early thoughts on that.
I don't know why that happened.
that we're executing. So over a rolling annual period, it's certainly in the range of, we would expect to be close to that 100% of net income. But again, there could be some variability from period to period as we've talked about.
So over a rolling annual period, it's certainly in the range of, we would expect to be close to that 100% of net income, but again, there could be some variability from period to period as we've talked about. Okay, understood. Super helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question, please press star one at this time. The next question comes from Justin Keywood of Stifel. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. On M&A, there was mention of active funnel over renegotiation and go through CSC.
in a range of potential assets. Is there any bookends to the size of assets that you're looking at and has expectations from potential sellers abated at all as compared to earlier this year?
Yeah, good morning, Justin. And I referenced this, but our funnel is and remains healthy. And when we look at the funnel within the funnel, there's a good mix of small, medium, and large. And we don't put bookends on. I mean, clearly we do have a.
around the market, the technology that they offer. So looking at really higher technology, higher value solutions, how we're gonna operate, and then lastly, the financial return. And so we have a good mix within. We don't have bookends on size. We generally are within a certain size range, but we don't have bookends on size as we look at many opportunities.
real strong technology, strong businesses that will continue to add value to our shareholders and our customers.
Understood, thank you. And then on the reorganization and final charge in Q4, did we see any of the benefits of that program show up in the margins or will it be a more gradual basis?
So no, and certainly nothing material in the quarter. I talked about an 18 month payback. And so most of the programs largely complete. There's from a cost perspective, it's complete from an actions perspective, largely complete.
but
You know, as I said, it's roughly an 18 month impact. Largely towards the latter half of next year.
Thank you. The next question comes from Michael Glenn, Raymond James.
Oh hey, so again just looking at life sciences in the coming year, you did spend much of fiscal 23 going up against some difficult compares for the prior year. So if we're thinking of overall organic for life sciences in 24.
and putting all the pieces of that business together. Any sort of thought on where we should think about organic growth? Should it be like a high single digit this year or something different than that?
Yeah, good morning, Michael. Just to kind of lay out the thinking broader on life sciences, we look at any market, we look at them over.
rolling period of time because no one quarter is going to really dictate how that market or how we're doing within the market and just to give you some narrative on this life sciences book to bill over the last thrilling 12 months was above one and so while it was a obviously challenging competitor we continue to grow on that
And as we look at the market, we do view this market as opportunity, and we do view this market as continuing to grow. And our funnel is healthy for this space. It continues to evolve. We continue to add new customers, new solutions. Our synergy funnel continues to grow, which we're very pleased with.
We do view this as an area we're going to continue to drive expansion into. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Hider, there are no further questions. Back to you for closing comments. Great, thank you operator. We look forward to...
Stay safe and goodbye for now.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.