Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today for IPA's Earnings covering the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. I am Mandip, and I have the privilege of hosting this call. Before we commence, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our discussions today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expressed or implied. We strongly encourage you to review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive discussion of these risks and uncertainties. IPA remains committed to complying with legal requirements and will update forward-looking statements only as mandated by law. During today's conference call and the accompanying presentation slides, we will employ non-GAAP financial measures to assist investors and analysts in comprehending IPA's business performance, adjusted EBITDA in particular allows the meaningful comparisons and analysis of trends in our business over different periods. For a detailed explanation and reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures, please refer to the management discussion and analysis section of our filing on EDGAR and SEDAR. Now without further ado, I would like to pass the floor to IPA CEO, Dr. Jennifer Bath who will provide an overview of our quarterly results.

Thank you, Mandeep, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call for the fiscal year 2024. In this quarter, we've yet again proven our capability to flourish amidst a challenging macroeconomic environment, highlighting the relevance and effectiveness of our strategy, along with our adaptability. Our strategic foresight and comprehensive suite of end-to-end antibody services that we offer have been instrumental in securing this consistent growth. A significant portion of our R&D efforts this quarter has been directed towards supporting BioStrand, our artificial intelligence subsidiary, reflecting our belief in its transformative potential for drug discovery. By strategically focusing our investments and maintaining prudent cost management, we affirm our commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and the strategic development of our company to meet the evolving needs of industry and our clients. The past quarter was a landmark period where we not only continued our trajectory towards revenue growth, but also achieved notable improvements in our profit margins. This progress underscores our journey toward profitability with a clear focus on sustainable and profitable growth. Strategic investments in our BioStrand platform and an increase in our manufacturing footprint in Europe have been pivotal in securing a larger market share for catering to the increasing demand for our services. This strategic alignment ensures that we are well positioned to lead in the drug discovery and development space propelled by BioStrand’s innovative AI driven software capabilities. Reflecting on our financial and operational strategies, we're proud to report a quarter of robust performance with a total revenue of $6.2 million, marking a 20% year-over-year increase. We are extremely proud to announce that this achievement marks our fourth quarter of back to back record breaking quarterly revenues at ImmunoPrecise Antibodies. This success is a testament to our strategic focus on…

Thank you, Jennifer. I'll provide a brief overview of our financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 before touching on our financial position as of the end of the period, which was January 31st, 2024. As a reminder, all numbers I referenced are in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise noted. Starting with our revenue. For the three months ended January 31st, 2024, we achieved revenues of $6.2 million, representing a 20.3% increase in our revenue of $5.2 million in Q3 of previous year. year. Our year-to-date revenue was $18.1 million, reflecting a 20% increase from our fiscal 2023 year-to-date revenue of $15 million. Supporting this growth, our Utrecht, Netherlands site achieved year-to-date revenue growth of 32% year-over-year and is benefiting from expansion efforts in Q3 of last year, Our Victoria BC site achieved year-to-date revenue growth of 27% year-over-year and will be expanding its wet lab footprint in mid-calendar 2024. As for the impact of our ongoing expansion, our revenue history shows the results of our focus on continuing to identify and meet our customers' needs. We have demonstrated sustained profitable revenue growth from our wet labs at higher than market rates and continue to expand, and to address not only our customers' needs but also our stakeholders' need. We are continuing to execute on our wet lab expansion by adding much needed lab space plus investing in the further development and launch of our LENSai portal and SaaS platforms. This strategy not just supports even higher revenue growth but gross margin improvements as well. Now on to our operating expenses. Our research and development expenses for the third quarter were approximately $1 million and $3.1 million year-to-date, which represents a $10 million decrease from the previous year. This decrease reflects the completion of the investments required to build…

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Will McHale with Ingalls & Snyder.

Good morning, Kristin and Jennifer. First quick one, Kristin, you mentioned that the company utilized the ATM offering in early March of 2024. Are you able to provide any more details on how much equity you raise?

Yes, I am. As we reported in our SEC filing, we had net proceeds of approximately $1.8 million, and that is Canadian at an average price, net price of $2.09 a share.

Thank you. Last quarter, the company talked about executing an LOI to enter into a transfer agreement for a Talem asset. What's the status of that program?

Hi, Will, this is Jennifer, and thanks for asking about that. I'm sure that's a question on other people's mind as well. So the LOI, or Letter of Intent, pertains to entering into what's called a Material Transfer Agreement, or MTA, for one of our valuable assets in the Talem pipeline. The company that signed the LOI does remain interested in moving forward with the MTA. However, they've indicated that they must first complete their delayed internal laboratory activities that are required for them to actually evaluate the tall amount of [inaudible] when they arrive. Given that the MTA actually specifies a fixed duration as soon as it's activated, then their timeline for initiating the agreement is contingent on the completion of internal preparation so they're actually ready to receive the material. To simplify that, if they sign the MTA, they have exactly six months to do the analysis. If three of those months are taken up with completing their internal materials to do the analysis, then they have only three months remaining to complete all of the work within the MTA without actually doubling their fees. So they're trying to be strategic from that perspective. Of course, they no longer then have [inaudible] exclusivity on that target during that time. So related to that in parallel, we are pleased to share also that a top five pharmaceutical company has actually shown interest in the exact same asset. So they have also signed a confidentiality agreement or a CDA, and they've initiated discussions with Talem as well. So this development suggests there may be competitive interest in licensing the asset. So we're closely monitoring the situation, answering their questions, and we're committed to obviously pursuing the best outcome for our stakeholders. So we will provide updates as more information becomes available and as we make further progress.

Got it. Thank you. It's been a year since announcing the Astellas collaboration. I realize that you're probably limited in what details you're able to share about the status of that, but I was wondering if you could comment on any sort of high level learnings from the program so far, specifically as it would relate to BioStrand and building their capabilities.

Absolutely, actually, we'd be really happy to do that. So the developments in this collaboration specifically with Astellas are very broadly applicable to various aspects of what we do in the in silico antibody discovery and development. So for one example, for instance, the elements of the developed procedures are integrated into our recently launched LENSai epitope binning tool. In addition, for that collaboration with Astellas, we were able to leverage knowledge and insights that we obtained within our Talem programs. And then we refined our technology for detailed structural analyses of protein interactions. And then this development has brought along significant value to BioStrand. So it's enabled them to make targeted adjustments to antibodies such as in silico adjustments of exactly where an antibody binds and exactly how strong that antibody is going to bind to its target. And these capabilities are ones that enable us to optimize in silico generated antibodies and then refine them further to make sure that they are optimized for the intended use in the clinic. So really a number of very tangible, very applicable aspects that we've learned through this program that are now built into the capabilities of BioStrand.

Great, that's a good transition to my next question. Is the company still on track to hit the milestones listed in its investor deck? I know there was a number of things targeted for the first half of calendar ‘24, also for all of ‘24.

Exactly. Starting first half of the calendar ‘24, also as you mentioned, kind of going through the first half of calendar ‘25. And so again, thank you for asking that question. So regarding our progress toward achieving the milestones included in the, it's both structured AI and lab deals with a license fee, as well as securing custom LENSai software as a service deal, among others. And I am pleased to report that yes, we do believe we're still on track to hit these milestones. We've been very laser focused on accomplishing these milestones. And the progress that we've made today has been really buoyed by the positive momentum we gained in this year's partnering conferences, starting with Longwood and JP Morgan back in January. So not only did we have good valuable exposure, really at a time where we're seeing the industry get much more excited about moving into partnerships, but these have also facilitated very meaning discussions with these potential partners, where we're actively working with them to align company synergies and ways to explore the integration of our technologies and services in a way that's mutually beneficial. So it's definitely been supporting our active movement toward checking each of these investor milestones. And then the outcome from these conferences and these subsequent discussions have been quite promising. They've been reinforcing our confidence in that direction that we're heading. And we do remain committed to maintaining this momentum. So we're quite optimistic about our ability to deliver on the promises we've made to our investors and stakeholders. So rest assured, we are fully engaged in the efforts to not only meet, but also exceed the expectations that were set forward in that deck.

Great. Well, look forward to seeing the progress in the next couple of months. Last one from me, I was hoping you might be able to comment on sort of the commercial applications of the foundational AI model that you announced last week. Is that something that could be licensed to clients to use or is this mainly going to be an internal development tool?

Yes, that's a fantastic question. And so the quick answer to the last portion of that is really both. LENSai and then the foundational application of that is something that lends itself quite well to partnerships and collaborations. And we also see that as having very significant potential in really changing how everyone working with biological data is able to access and utilize that data in a more meaningful way. So much far beyond just the application of us using that as an internal tool for in silico antibody discovery and development, we really see it as being fundamental and foundational to everyone working with mass biologics in the space. So to give you just a little bit more detail on that, that's kind of my direct go to answer. But just to provide a little bit more detail we've created and constructed this comprehensive technology stack, right, and that's a lying really at the heart of this foundation AI. And the AI platform is designed for very broad applicability across the diverse services we offer at IPA. So a prime example of its effectiveness has been in that validation of the epitope binning, but also many other promising applications in the pipeline. And this quarter did represent quite a milestone really for BioStrand in utilizing these numerous in silico capabilities because we did receive enthusiastic validation not only from internal sources in terms of being able to validate the quality and the accuracy of the work coming out of the laboratory, but also from third party partners as well, which obviously was quite pleasing to them as well to see that they could really depend on in silico work, which obviously is quite a bit faster and cheaper and provides additional insights and then feel comfortable knowing that matches…

Great, yes, it sounds like a very promising breakthrough. I look forward to seeing the economic benefit for IPA shareholders as well. That's all I have.

Our next question comes from a line of Swayampakula Ramakanth with H.C. Wainright.

Thank you. This is RK from HC Wainwright. Good morning, Jennifer. Coupe of quick questions. As Kristen said, the Utrecht and the Vancouver facilities in terms of revenues grew north of 25% in both of those facilities. And we have seen that growth come in quarter after quarter since you did the expansion. So the question is on resources in the sense, as you see this expansion every quarter or the last two, three quarters now, are you getting to a point where you're getting concerned about how much capacity you have in these facilities? Or do you still have enough capacity for growth, say for the next two to three years, if it grows at the same rate?

Yes, I actually, I just, I love that question, RK, because it really does kind of tap into also the evolution of how we've gotten to this point with the needed expansion. Because for years, we talked about space utilization, equipment utilization, people utilization, automation, robotifying work, the ability to track different pieces of equipment from at home or at night so that we could have things running as much around the clock as possible and really optimize our efficiency without needing to do expansions and without needing to do significantly more hiring. So in the past quarters, one of the things that you'll see that we've put up a couple of times was our revenue growth actually versus the number of FTEs that we had. And so we were really, really pushing the envelope at the Utrecht sites and the Victoria sites in particular where we were full to the brim with every piece of equipment being utilized, every square inch of each floor client being utilized. And then really at the point in Utrecht and in Victoria, British Columbia also where we had clients that had to sit in the queue and sometimes that was four months before we could actually bring those clients in. Now, I am happy to say that we have actually moved into that expansion realm with all three of our major production wet lab facilities. So Victoria did transition last January into a new facility, but that facility does actually require some additional remodeling and additional transition. It was something that we did not move into a brand new prepared facility. And so there is some duplication of some of the overhead associated with that with Victoria, but it's duplication from the Victoria site and it's also touch on the Oss site that…

Perfect. And then I know in the press release, you stated that you're starting to see some service revenue out of BioStrand. If you can kind of expand on that, because since you all had BioStrand for almost a year and a half, two years, I know you're doing a lot of tools building I'm sorry, I'm sure you're doing much more than that, but I'm sorry to use the word tool building. But at the same time, I know you're trying to generate some revenues, but for people like me to understand how much energy is being spent on gating that segment into revenue growth versus already getting some revenue out of that. I just want to understand where you are in that whole process.

Yes, actually that is a great question. So with regard to BioStrand and where the emphasis is there on the development, as you mentioned we've been building these modules and these tools, really different components of LENSai in response to what our clients tell us that they need in response to what they believe would give them better insights earlier on so they can fail faster or succeed faster with better products that are more likely to be successful in the clinic. And so really, if we go back to two years ago, these were not capabilities that BioStrand had, we have the fundamental technology of LENSai powered by the HYFTs and this pattern recognition, with still the vectorization of the actual structural patterns to be completed and embedded. And as we continue to gain insights off of that and really turn our focus more specifically to biologic research associated specifically with therapeutic antibodies that was a significant part of that energy and effort put into that first 24 months, where we've been taking that and move that into the integration of these wet lab capabilities. But all-in-all, during this period of time where we're performing those capabilities and building those modules, those are also are all parts of LENSai. And that LENSai remember being a tool that will be rolled out to our clients and then subsequently also to the public to enable people to not only utilize these tools within their own laboratory, but also to be able to encompass larger aspects of what we're able to do with LENSai. So going back to the foundational technology and the ability to use LENSai to gather insights again for multiple LLMs and other resources, as well as to be able to use that for data management. And so we…

This concludes today's question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Jennifer Bath for closing remarks.

Great. Thank you so much, Mandeep. So, first of all, as we wrap up today's discussion on our third quarter earnings call for fiscal year 2024, I'd like to underscore the strategic execution and resilience that have defined our journey thus far. Our achievements this quarter are not just numbers, they're a reflection of our unwavering dedication to innovation, strategic foresight, and operational excellence. With a significant 20% year-over-year revenue increase, our results speak volumes about our ability to navigate complex market dynamics and deliver on our promises. Our journey toward reduced net losses now at $0.11 per share is a clear indicator of our financial discipline and operational efficiency. This improvement is pivotal as it signals not only our capability to manage expenses wisely, but also our ongoing journey towards sustainable profitability. The strategic investments we've made so far, particularly in BioStrand and our expanded footprints, are laying down the foundation, not just for growth, but for transformative impact on the drug discovery and development landscape. Looking forward, our focus remains sharply on executing our strategy with precision, managing our resources effectively, and driving innovation that meets the evolving needs of our clients and the industry at large. Our commitment to you is to maintain this momentum to continue making strategic decisions that enhance value and to advance our mission of leading the way in drug discovery and development. We're not just looking at the next quarter, we're building a foundation for a future where ImmunoPrecise Antibodies stands as a beacon of innovation and excellence in our industry. We thank you for your continued trust and support. We're excited about what lies ahead, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you.

This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.