Illumina CEO says 2024 results ‘will look very similar to 2023’

CEO Jacob Thaysen says: “I wanted to reiterate Illumina’s commitment to supporting our customers in this difficult macroeconomic environment. While we cannot control for external factors, we can optimize our own actions to successfully navigate through this period and position the company for a return to accelerated growth on the other side. I know you’re interested to hear our views for 2024. With the caveat that we haven’t finished 2023, we’re still looking at our budget for 2024. Our initial view is that 2024 results will look very similar to 2023. We don’t expect near-term improvement to the macroeconomic environment, and geopolitical issues have been persistent. We are encouraged with the early signs we’re seeing for NovaSeq X utilization and the continued rollout of the X position us very well for the ramp in consumables and overall growth when the market conditions improve. This is clearly a dynamic situation, and we want to be able to develop our views in depth. Therefore, for 2024, we will not provide guidance before our Q4 earnings call in February. The main reason that I joined Illumina was my strong conviction about the future of the core Illumina business. While over the coming months, I’ll continue to listen and learn, I would also be focused on several key priorities. First, we need to drive our top line as much as possible in this environment. This means continued placements of the NovaSeq X and all of our instruments, laying the groundwork for increased consumable demand. We’ll continue working closely with our customers around the world, whether they are integrating new instruments into their workflows, starting new projects or building new tests or assays. Second, we need to keep driving innovation that is highly focused on our customers with priorities. These innovations include automation and sample-to-answer solutions served to strengthen our leadership position around the world. At the same time, we need to manage our R&D investments with discipline and rigor. We most recently launched our 25B rating kit. This was highly anticipated by our customers, and it will unleash the full power of the NovaSeq X. Third, we need to focus our own operational excellence across geographies, functions and processes. Earlier this year, we announced a plan to reduce our annualized run rate expenses. Our team has executed well and has been able to reduce annualized run rate expenses by approximately $175 million, ahead of our original projection of more than $100 million. These savings will continue to support flexibility and further investment in high-growth areas and our margins. I’m committed to executing against all of these priorities with a strong sense of urgency. We are focused on delivering tangible improvements that support profitable long-term growth from Illumina and for our shareholders.” Comments taken from Q3 earnings conference call.