Avantor (AVTR) Goldman Sachs 45th Annual Global Healthcare Conference summary

Market conditions and outlook

• Q1 results aligned with expectations, with consumables outperforming and equipment/instruments declining, offsetting each other.

• No significant change in market visibility; lab segment has real-time visibility, production segment has 2-3 months lead time.

• Industry fundamentals remain strong, with no structural changes in end markets; cautious spending persists in biopharma.

• Modest improvements in consumables and bioprocessing, but no inflection point or full recovery observed yet.

• Any meaningful recovery in the second half of the year would be considered upside to current guidance.

Segment and end market performance

• Lab segment: Biopharma remains cautious; higher education shows consistent growth; diagnostics normalized.

• Production segment: Formulated silicones for medical devices saw strong growth last year, now stabilizing; healthy end market.

• Aerospace and defense remain strong; semiconductors returned to growth but at a modest pace.

• Bioprocessing portfolio is highly differentiated, with broad exposure across modalities and strong regulatory expertise.

• Consumables represent 85%+ of business, with above-plan performance in Q1 for both lab and bioprocessing.

Inventory and demand trends

• Raw material destocking is largely complete, with only a few customer/product-specific pockets remaining.

• Bulk drug substance inventories remain elevated, causing some friction in production demand.

• Patient demand and therapy approvals are strong, supporting long-term bullishness.

• Instrumentation demand declined 10% sequentially in Q1, with robust sales funnels but longer conversion cycles.

• Activity levels are healthy, but cautious spending is extending sales cycles and delaying recovery.