ArcticZymes Technologies ASA (AZT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. It's 8:30, so I suggest we start. So good morning, and welcome to the Q&A session regarding the announcement we made yesterday about divesting the Biotec BetaGlucans business to Lallemand's subsidiary, Danstar Ferment AG. What we'd like to do today is use today to answer questions that you may have related to the announcement. We know it's some time until the Q4 announcement hence, where we thought it was timely to have a dedicated Q&A session today about the divestment. So basically, it'd be myself, Jethro Holter, the CEO, who will answer questions and Børge would also help. Børge Sørvoll, our CFO, will also support. We'll be answering questions here as well. But before we go into questions, I'd like to give you a little brief background about the divestment. And let's wind the clock back to December last year. It's important to understand the strategy here. So back in December last year, we made some strategic decisions. And what we said is we were going to maintain ArcticZymes Technology or Biotec Pharmacon as it was at the time. We would make it profitable going into '20. And this will be largely driven through the ArcticZymes business, the enzyme business. What we also said, because of this, is ArcticZymes, the enzyme business, will become the core business and main strategic focus moving forward. We also said that Biotec BetaGlucans or BBG will become a noncore business that we will operate while profitable. And of course, we saw that the Woulgan business was not delivering. It wasn't a domestically viable business that we decided to divest that. So this is where the divestment started to happen. What we did, we ran quite an extensive process over 9 months during this year to divest Woulgan. And despite an intensive process, we were unable to find a suitable partner within the experienced wound care sector and outside of that, that was interested in taking on the Woulgan business. So this really confirmed that there were significant commercial challenges out there, and it was financially unattractive for the Woulgan business. The Woulgan business is a small [indiscernible] business at the end of the day. So what we did see, however, and although there was an interest and Woulgan wasn't commercially attractive, we did see interest in the whole of the BBG business and as well as the factory. And we had received already several proposals, and with that, we decided to run a bidding process. And in the end, Lallemand was the bidder that we chose to go with. And that's where we ended up yesterday, where ArcticZymes Technologies entered into share purchase agreement with Lallemand's subsidiary, Danstar Ferment. And they will acquire the BBG subsidiary as well will acquire all the BBG assets, the associated intellectual property, including M-Gard, SBG, M-Glucan and Woulgan product portfolio and also take over the manufacturing of beta-glucans in the Nordøya factory in Tromsø as well as the personnel under the Biotec BetaGlucans business. You're going to ask, well, why Lallemand? Well, let me, at the end the day, Lallemand is an excellent strategic fit for the BBG business. They are a global leader in the development, production and marketing of yeast, bacteria and speciality ingredients. They already play in the beta-glucan space with [ options ] to expand their portfolio. [Technical Difficulty] So in terms of Lallemand, they have the expertise to fully integrate and develop the beta-glucan portfolio. And they plan to continue business as usual to ensure continuity of supply of Biotec BetaGlucans to our customers. When you look at Lallemand, who are they? They are a family owned business. They have headquarters in Canada. They're present in more than 50 countries. They operate more than 45 manufacturing plants around the world and they're around about 4,500 employees. So I think at the end of day, we sold the business to the best potential company there is out there. So why are we selling Biotec BetaGlucans now? That's probably going to be one of the major questions here. And it really comes back to what I said earlier: it's about the [ splitted ] discussions we had back in December last year -- sorry, the decisions we made in December last year where we said that ArcticZymes will be the core business moving forward. At the time, we also had a longer-term strategy, which we had not communicated because that depended on certain things happening, and the long-term strategy was to eventually divest the BBG business and subsequently allow the ArcticZymes business become a pure enzyme company. And the reason why it's a long-term strategy, certain things have happened for that to be achieved and that wasn't sure how long that would take. And one important fact here was that if ArcticZymes is going to be a pure enzyme business, and we needed to divest BBG, it was important that we turned around BBG, turn it into a profitable business, which would then become attractive to a potential buyer. And what we saw this year, and I think what we have seen, is that we turned the BBG business around much faster than we expected. And at the same time, we've also had interested parties out there to purchase it. So if you go back 12 months ago, it would not have been conceivable to be in a position where we could sell Biotec BetaGlucans because of its financial position at the time. So I think here, really, at the end of the day, we have turned the BBG business around. We want to move forward with ArcticZymes being a pure enzyme business. That fits our strategy. So that's where we are today, we're divesting the Biotec BetaGlucans. And now we're going to move forward. We have been 80% focused. It's going to be 100% focused on developing the enzyme business. And I think that's important because even with our best efforts, that will be difficult with a noncore beta-glucan business in the background because that still needs managing. It's still needs serving, which doesn't allow us to focus full efforts on ArcticZymes. So hence, we're moving forward, we will be a pure enzyme business. All efforts now will be towards expanding the ArcticZymes enzyme portfolio through organic and inorganic growth. Organic growth is already we are making significant infrastructure, research and development investments. We're making those in 2021 and 2022 and that will be to expand our organic growth portfolio. In addition, we want to do M&A activities and growing inorganically by acquiring other companies, and that -- the support of that has been challenging, to some degree, with Biotec BetaGlucans and also with the divestment. At the end of the day, we've been focused on our efforts to divest Biotec BetaGlucans first and then we can move forward more and to then bolt on other enzyme companies through mergers and acquisitions. So to summarize, the divestment here really supports ArcticZymes' strategy to become exclusively an enzyme business and drive the profit. and we've seen -- that's the most profitable part of the company. And of course, we will -- this also strengthens our cash position to expedite organic and inorganic growth options here. So let's come back to Biotec BetaGlucans. So what does this mean for Biotec BetaGlucans? Well, it's a real benefit for Biotec BetaGlucans because it becomes a core business again. It becomes an important cog in Lallemand's system in -- sorry, Lallemand's organization. If you look at today, in ArcticZymes, it is a noncore business and we can't cater for it being a core business. And I think everybody realizes noncore businesses, you don't keep them for long. Long-term noncore businesses are not good -- do not work for everybody. It's not beneficial for ArcticZymes. It's not beneficial for BBG. Hence, why the divestment today is the best scenario for BBG and ArcticZymes. And in fact, it becomes a win-win situation for both companies -- sorry, for both subsidiaries. So what next? Well, the transition is expected to close by the end of December. There will be a 12-month transition period where it be initially business as usual, where the ArcticZymes Group employees will certainly be supporting the Biotec BetaGlucans during a transition phase. And it will take a little time for ArcticZymes Technologies to find its feet as a stand-alone enzyme business. But of course, we want to move forward very quickly on that and then focus on being a pure enzyme company. So with that, I'd like to stop and open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions]

Hopefully, will people be able to unmute? Let me see. I'm just going to see here if we try this one and see if that one works as well. Can you try and unmute now?

Jethro, can you hear me?

Yes. We can hear -- I can hear you, yes.

This is David [indiscernible]. So well done on executing the divestment. As you're aware, we're in it for the enzymes growth opportunity, so we appreciate this move. And I think maybe if you can discuss the M&A potential. You previously said that the pandemic has made it difficult for you to move ahead with some of those plans. And I think at the same time, you also said that with this success turning around the business in 2020 and now the increased cash position, you can move ahead with even bigger plans for acquisitions. Can you talk about, number one, access to potential targets and being able to do your due diligence in the period. So -- and if you can comment as to timing, we don't expect news on the M&A front and also size of potential targets.

Yes. I can certainly talk about that, and I can tell -- let me take a little step back first. I think one thing is we did start the M&A process and we've been in it for some time, and we started that before we were -- had the financial position we have today. And of course, we've been trying to do several things as well, trying to divest Biotec BetaGlucans and we've had the pandemic, and all this create interesting challenges for us as well as opportunities. So what we found is we are a small team and we've been wanting to do M&A and we've been trying to do a divestment process. And what we found is being a small team, it has been tough for us to do the divestment and do an M&A at the same time. And of course, the thing that we had with BBG is that not it is not our core business, it doesn't really fit with an enzyme business. So what we've decided is, okay, what we would do is because we have the pandemic situation and we can't travel, and I'll come back why that's important in a minute, we decided to prioritize more of the divestment of BBG here, the Woulgan beta-glucans. And now -- and that's important because it's kind of bolt. We have a bolt-and-build strategy by M&A. We want to bolt on synergistic companies. But first, it makes sense to un-bolt the part that doesn't fit BBG. So we've done that. So that means that now that is done and now we have the attention to focus a lot more energy and time on the M&A, okay? But of course, it's actually the convenient timing because during this BBG divestment process, we haven't been able to travel because of the COVID-19 to look at these other companies. We have companies we're talking to who would like to acquire. However, since they're high-technology businesses, and that's what's important here, they're high technology. It's not just a paperwork exercise, you have to physically go there, see them and get the feel of their facilities, their equipment, meet the people and really see are these people really technically confident or not. You don't get that just through a teleconference. And I think that's what we've had over the last 9 months. So at the end of day, since we haven't been out to travel and do that, that we didn't see a need for an M&A, we haven't done that. But that's convenience of being able to divest the BBG business. So we haven't lost any time essentially. So moving forward, what do we want to do? Yes, we want to do -- with 2 things: we want to grow organically. There's a lot of efforts there where we're investing, we're building new -- building out into new facilities. And of course, you see the organic business is going very well and we don't want to abandon that. We want to keep that growing and put forward efforts in that. We are now able to free ourselves up and do more on the M&A front. And I think here, we also have a very interesting situation now because, of course, the company has -- it's in a different financial position. And I think at the end of the day, what we're doing now is to really reevaluate the targets out there that we'd like to acquire because we maybe can think a little bit bigger now and there are other targets that can come on to the table than we were considering before. So I think what we want to do now is also look deep and hard and make sure that when we do that first acquisition, we get the best one. So we're looking into those options now. In terms of timing, what I want to do, I'd rather spend and make sure we do the right -- get that right, the first acquisition, which will really help accelerate our growth and do it when it's right, not just to rush it. So I think at the end of the day, we do want to, I think, the ambition and what we're driving to do our first acquisition this year -- sorry, in 2021, but I can't say when. I think it's important to get it right and spend the time in finding the right things than just to say, hey, look, we've done an acquisition and signed it off. Of course, at the same time, manage and ensure that we are growing organically and we put the resources into that in the right way. So hopefully, that helps to answer your questions because there are several things still to juggle. We are a small team and -- but still, we are going to move forward on both those fronts. And of course, initially beginning of next year, we will very much need to manage the transition of BBG as well since BBG has -- we divested it, there's still a lot of work to do in the transition phase and we need to support that, at least my and some of the management time as well there. That will be needed as well in these process. So I'm trying to give you a full picture of what to expect here and how the bits work here. So does that help answer your question, David?

Yes. So by the sound of it, you're not looking to make any, I don't know how to put it, but a major M&A. More like a bolt-on as you say...

A bit more. Sorry, I forgot, yes...

It's not transformational completely.

Yes. So certainly, I'll come back to the value. Sorry, I didn't address the value. And also, I think one of the key factors here is why we have one key factor and it is the corona travel restriction. We have to go out and see those companies in the flesh, and that's the point. So I think corona is going to stall us. And I think at the end of the day, when we look at it, I don't think the travel restrictions are going to open up anytime immediately. But I do expect after this winter period, that then things hopefully will open up again. And of course, more testing will be in place and ways will be put in place for us to travel to get to those companies. In terms of -- and of course, like I said, we have a much better cash position. We have a much better position to go out to do an acquisition. I think if we do an acquisition, it will be meaning we need to go out and raise cash. And that's important. We would need to go out to our investors to get cash to do that. And in terms of the size, we are looking at companies maybe smaller or potentially equal to us in size. That's what we're looking at. And of course, before we had a kind of a more of a narrow mindset. Our mind is sort of a bit more narrow, but we can broaden our horizons a bit more now. And I think that -- I think when you look at us in terms of -- when I say size, when you -- it's about the kind of revenues they're driving is -- would be similar to us. But it's all about products at the end of the day. The M&A here is about broadening the product portfolio. It's things they can drop in and sell, they're synergistic to what we have, our customers desires those and we can get those revenue synergies very early on. So that's the whole point of the M&A. It's about building out that portfolio we have.

[ Arna ], do you have a question?

Yes, yes. Congratulations on the sale. I think you've done a fantastic job, and I agree that you should focus on the enzymes. At the same time, we and many shareholders who has been in the beta-glucan was kind of excited, especially about this vaccination part. So I just wondered about the timing. Is it possible to wait? I understand maybe that you don't want to wait to be focused. But did you also consider to split the company in 2 and give the shareholders the chance to have -- continue in the beta-glucan. Because if you look at the transaction, it's only like NOK 1.50 per share. So it would be a small investment to keep beta-glucan for investors and maybe raise some capital to pursue the possibility, especially without the vaccination part and immune therapy -- or immune system.

Yes. So several things here. And maybe I can answer some and Børge will answer some. So Børge maybe can talk after about splitting the company, and I can talk about the timing and the adjuvant. So when it comes to the adjuvant, what you've got to remember here, the adjuvant is still supporting clinical trials at this stage. And those clinical trials are going to be ongoing for some more years. And there's -- and again, yes, these -- and there's no guarantees there at the end of the day that it will get FDA approval and -- and of course. And when you think about that as well, to keep that business longer for us, in any capacity, does need managing. And at the end of the day, we want a clean break and just put Biotec BetaGlucans behind us so that we can fully focus on the enzyme business. And I think we could have said, yes, let's keep Biotec BetaGlucans for 1 to 2 more years. Yes, we could have gotten a better price for it. However, by doing that, we would have likely lost out on the enzyme side. We would not have grown the enzymes as much as if we didn't have beta-glucans. So at the end of the day, by breaking it up, we actually get more value from the business in ArcticZymes, if you catch my understanding. In terms of -- and of course, and we didn't want to have a process that goes on forever here. So I think here, what we saw is trying to find the best road map for beta-glucans, and we felt the best road map was to divest it and fully separated out to a company who can drive it without needing the thought of the ArcticZymes Technologies business anymore. Børge, you might be able to talk a bit more to the splitting the company part.

Yes. And I think as we said, I think this is also something I looked at, this has been the best option for the company. And of course, there are a lot of ways that you could have done this. But I think at the end, I think we saw that this was the best fit for the company going forward now. I think that, that is essentially where we are, [ Arna ].

So has it been the appetite from many shareholders to keep it? Or has it been -- everyone wants to get rid of it if the alternative was to split it two, I mean. I understand it's not the option to keep it together.

I don't think the question, we haven't gone out to a lot of shareholders and talked to them about, if you keep the company and things like that. I think that's not how you do these kind of transactions. But I think this has also been a process with the Board where we have looked at the different options and made considerations here down the road here where we also made the decision at one point in time.

And I think what we realized when we went down with the divestment process, well, of course, we went to try and divest Woulgan and realized, well, that's on its own, that they see the commercial value. And also we had, had interest of buying just parts of the business, but that doesn't make sense because at the end of the day, it all relies on the same factory. You just can't break it up. And I think that was it: it's finding fine in the right owner that could manage that moving forward. And even if you did try and sell it and try and manage it, I think it's a very difficult business to manage. It needs to go into a large organization such as Lallemand who really know how to run these factories and who've got the right investments behind it, of course, because even keeping it, it would have required investments. And that's important. It's -- investment needs to be put into it to grow it as well here. And I think that's another reason why it's going out and discussing it with shareholders, it would probably take a long -- it would have taken a long time as well. And I think -- and of course, when we have buyers who want to go out and buy it, there's a certain time point they have an appetite to buy it and you don't want to lose that opportunity there. So since the opportunities are on the table and the appetite was there, we need to take that -- and we wanted to move forward with our enzyme strategy, that's why we took the opportunity now. So it's all about timing as well.

Jethro, I've received a question on the line here -- on an e-mail. It said how many people are going with the company now?

It's 6 people. So 6 people who are in the BBG business will go to Lallemand and -- because it's basically, it's a whole subsidiary that's going. So that's how many people work for BBG. And in the meantime, ArcticZymes Technologies, the group employees will support BBG during the transition phase.

Okay. Will it be a merger between ArcticZymes and ArcticZymes Technologies?

For the foreseeable future, we see that it's going to be ArcticZymes Technologies and ArcticZymes, I guess, for now. But of course, we will evaluate that down the road. And of course, we've got to think about the M&A as well as we buy -- do M&A, what's the best structure there moving forward. So that's something we will look at here, and we'll update you if anything changes there.

Okay. I have two more. Is there any cash left in the company that is being sold?

Børge, you're pretty good at answering that.

Probably as you saw from the announcement, this is based on an enterprise value of NOK 70 million and it's on a cash-free and debt-free basis. So essentially, there will be no cash left in the company here. And also, what about the profit loss carried forward, is that part of AZT? Or is it part of the BBG side of the business? And I think I can answer that question as well. With regards to the profit loss carryforward, this resides with BBG for their part of the losses that we had in the past. So that also will be part of this transaction. But it's important that there's still a lot of profit loss in the mother company as well that we would utilize in the coming years going forward now. Any other questions? [Operator Instructions]

I have a question. This is Morten. Just maybe clarifying what you just mentioned, Børge, on the transaction, how will that be relating to tax as well? Will it be booked as a profit on what you had on BBG earlier or...

Yes. Of course, there will be something that we -- all the bookkeeping still is to be looked at. But at the end of the day, we have -- we will definitely have a loss on the shares in BBG on the mother company here. But of course, on the group totality, there will be a profit here going forward.

Okay. Maybe a second one for Jethro. I can challenge you a bit. You mentioned a few times on the call now you have a lean and small team. And you've sort of done this in a procedural way, waiting for the acquisitions afterwards. When you're looking at your growth plans forward, does it also include corporate development and staffing up on that side?

So when it comes to the corporate, I think we're pretty good there because we have the corporate today serves both ArcticZymes and Biotec BetaGlucans. . So what's going to happen here is when Biotec BetaGlucans is transitioned out, the staffing that we have, corporate will all go to the ArcticZymes and we already figured out how to use that moving forward. Of course -- so I think that really helps. We don't have to beat things up there. Of course, what we are doing is really beating things up in the ArcticZymes subsidiary itself in terms of operations, R&D. And of course, we are looking to expand what we're doing commercially in Asia, and particularly, China and India. So I think at the end of the day, we are pushing in several directions there. And of course, corporate is important as well. And then, of course, then it's the M&A side of things as well. And of course, when we bring another company in, then, of course, that's going to be -- that could strengthen different parts of the organization as well, depending on what the acquisition is.

Yes. That makes sense. Finally, on -- just adding on to a previous question there on M&A and potential size of an acquisition. Would you consider a placement or issuing any debt considering where the markets are now? And I would reckon there'd be a significant institutional appetite for something like that as well.

I think maybe I can answer that one. And I think that is an opportunity to be considered as well. But of course, we have not done any transaction at the moment now, and that remains to be seen. But of course, if you just look back 9 months in time and then we had a completely different financial position, I think that was out of the question. By looking at how the company has developed over the last 9 months and also with the increased cash position, that is an opportunity to consider if we are to go out and raise any external cash now in an event-driven transaction here. Yes. One more question here that I received on e-mail. Will profit or value increase in ArcticZymes Technologies outperform possible compensation gap in future sale of BBG? That's a little bit strange to understand that question.

Yes. I think that's trying -- so I think when you look at it, we have to -- it's going to take -- well, we need to look at the business in future and that's how we will present the business is without BBG alone. And I think that's important to look at the dynamics there. At the end of the day, it will be purely the ArcticZymes sales and what we're seeing there is growing and continues to grow. And we expect continued annual growth, of course, in the ArcticZymes business. We'll also see that we will still see those fluctuations quarterly. That's just the nature of the business. But generally on an annual basis, it is growing and you can see that. But of course, in the future, you've got to cast your eye on the ArcticZymes sales and AZT, too, without there. But it's just the ArcticZymes because you don't need to worry about the BBG anymore. On the cost base, what you're going to see is, of course, after -- since we don't -- we're not -- ArcticZymes Technologies Group is not supporting BBG anymore, those costs will all be on ArcticZymes. So I think here, on the cost base, you'll see that there'll be more cost in ArcticZymes. And of course, what we're doing is investing for the future growth as well, and that's important because we will see more operational costs for us because we are investing in personnel. And it's for in terms of growing the innovation product line to get more products out there and also more in operations because we're going to get more orders. We need to scale up. The business is growing very nicely. So I think here, you need to factor those 2 elements together when you look at the future numbers. And of course -- and I think it will all fall into place more when we present the numbers without the Biotec BetaGlucans numbers in there. Do you have anything to add to that, Børge?

No. I think that's fine.

But I think it's important to manage those expectations now. So you get to see it and get the mindset around how it's going to look moving forward. But what we're going to do is we want to make sure we continue as we're doing, is driving the business forward and deliver as a profitable business and top line growth. That does not change, and that's the point. And that's why we're comfortable with going out and divesting the BBG business because we're not dependent on it. And of course -- and that's the beauty of it because then we'd be a pure enzyme business, grow that as a pure business -- pure enzyme business and then bolt other businesses onto that and integrate them into our -- into getting those revenue synergies.

Other questions? [Operator Instructions]

Yes. This is Karl Norén from Danske Bank. I have a question regarding your organic initiatives. If you could elaborate a bit, what you're looking to invest in, in terms of the R&D? What kind of enzymes you're looking to grow within? Do you want to expand your current portfolio with what we have seen, like that you expand your SAN portfolio, for example? Or how should we see the mix in your enzyme portfolio going forward? And what will you invest in? Because if I remember correctly, I think you, Jethro, was talking a lot about that you haven't really been able to invest properly historically. And so it would be interesting to hear because I think you have a lot of interesting, what do you say, opportunities that you can -- yes, that you can -- yes.

It's actually a very good question. And I think when you look at the enzyme as a company, we have some very good enzyme. And of course, you're seeing the attraction of those on the market. And this is the whole point of why we -- how we want to grow organically and inorganically. We -- today, we have a small portfolio of enzymes, but it's not a complete portfolio. And this is why we want to become that one-stop shop over the next 3 years is to have every single type of enzyme any company would want in the markets we serve. So -- and that goes in 2 dimensions. One is when you do, for instance, a diagnostic test, you have several different stages in that diagnostic test, each using different enzymes, okay? We only have some of those enzymes. So we need to make sure we fill the gaps in what we're missing there. And the other way is when you do, for instance, diagnostic tests, there's different technologies that can be used from PCR to LAMP technologies to sequencing -- next-generation sequencing. And all those require different enzymes, too. And we have a lot of gaps in our portfolio. So this is what I was talking about, the growth. The order growth right now is, when we talk about growth, it's about expanding our portfolio and getting those enzymes that we're missing. And that's what R&D have been working on very hard. And the situation is where we made a decision in December last year, that was the trigger to allow us to spend more time in R&D and that's what we've done last year -- this year. We've been working hard in R&D. But it does take time because to develop a new enzyme and launch them it doesn't happen overnight. An enzyme can take up to 4 years from start to finish. But of course, we always have -- they're not what our enzymes we started in December last year. We've had things in the pipeline. But what's been interesting this year as well is that we've had an interesting situation where we've also seen that there's -- the demand for certain products are increasing. So we're also happy about R&D into scale-up projects as well on existing products, and that's an exciting situation as well. So we're balancing 2 things here: going -- putting things back into R&D to scale up our manufacturing processes for future demand, what we're seeing; as well as innovating new enzymes as well as new formulations of existing enzymes. So over the next 3 years, we are going to really broaden that portfolio. But in order to do that, we are -- the investments, what we're doing now is in R&D, is in new personnel. But at the same time, we need more space and that's another thing. So we're investing in facilities to expand, so we have more space to hire more scientists. And by doing that, we're able to run more product developments in parallel, i.e., so we can accelerate the amount of products coming out of R&D. So what are we focusing on? We serve 3 business areas. One is therapeutics, and you can see that's growing very well for us and that's growing very fast. And of course, we have other products in the pipeline that are coming out in the SAN portfolio, which will -- which means we can take more of the value chain that we're doing there. And of course, we have enzymes that today are being used in cleaning up AAV viruses we launched and planned late last year, which also goes into, for instance, lentivirus. And at the end of the day, we want to have enzymes that can clean up all viruses and go beyond priorities as well. Where there aren't good solutions today, we're going to cherry-pick and put the best solutions in place when it comes to that type of that area. The other area is, of course, diagnostics and diagnostics is very much on the map. It's been on the map for a long time for us. We've been serving virus diagnostics since I've been in the company, serving people making HIV, HCV type diagnostic tests and COVID-19, of course. And that's where our enzymes today are used, but we are expanding our portfolio. So R&D are working very hard as we speak on working on thermostable polymerases. These are the hot polymerases. Today, we have cold polymerases. They're working on reverse transcriptases. These are enzymes we do not have. And of course, at the end of the day, when we launch them, the market is immediately aware. So that's just the play. And then of course, we are working on a lot of other kind of novel enzymes such as novel ligases and novel ligases are enzymes that can be used in particularly, importantly, in next-generation sequencing technologies, in synthetic biology where you're making synthetic genomes and synthetic life. So here, these are things that we're all working on. And of course, what we want to do is it all comes back to this one-stop shop in having every single type of enzyme that will be needed by our customers. So they only have to come to us at ArcticZymes. They don't have to go anywhere else. And so at the end of the day, as we do with many of our customers, we don't just sell one product to individual customers. Our customers buy multiple products over time and integrate it into many products and it is a marriage that we forged. And of course, they come to us and say, hey, do you have this, and we don't have that. But we -- so of course, we are trying to get those enzymes in that we're missing. So I know that's kind of a long answer, but I think it's important to give a detailed answer on what we're doing there. So hopefully that answers your question, Karl.

Yes. That's a very good answer. And just kind a follow-up question within -- regarding the kind of SAN with respect to the gene therapy. Because I don't really know if you have commented on how many customers you have in that respect because I saw a presentation that's in -- your Q1 presentation in 2018, you said that you have over 90 customers within the gene therapy. I don't know if you could comment anything on how that has developed until now and approximately how many customers you have within the gene therapy space as of today.

Yes. So of course, we have -- when I say is that our customers are all different stages. Some are growing small quantities, they're doubling. And of course, we have our major ones that are approaching over NOK 1 million when they place orders. But it is still around the 100 mark. Because at the end of the day, I think -- at the end of the day -- and what's happening here is what you're seeing. And the reason why it doesn't increase so much is because there's a lot of acquisitions and M&A so -- and things transition from one customer to the next. So it has increased since they're hundreds now. But I think you've got kind of critical mass of companies there now. I think a lot of people saw the opportunity. They jumped on the bandwagon in 2016. And now you see all the major players out there, large and small, that are in this space. So I think that's why it's not sort of -- it's rapidly expanded over the last couple of years. But then what you've seen is a lot of companies have merged or there's -- technology is being transferred out the university and then licensed by a company. So I think here, that's why the -- when you look at it, that the players out there haven't actually increased that much. The number of entities is still the same. It's just things have transferred hands at the end of the day. So look, it's about 100-plus people we serve today. And of course, what we are seeing is actually outside of -- I think there's certainly -- where it is expanding much more right now is in Asia as well. We're seeing a lot more interest in Asia as well. Hence, while we are -- it's been -- principally, Japan has been there for a long time. Japan is very much a country that has focus on gene therapy. And of course, we are there. Of course, in China now there's interest and that's why we're starting to gather some help in China now to move forward in that direction as well.

Any other questions on the -- especially, hopefully, on the BBG divestment or -- no? If -- I think if there aren't any more questions, that's why I think we just thank you, everyone, for participating in this Q&A event. And we will see you again at the end of January when we have our Q4 presentation. So we hope to see all of you at that point in time as well.

Yes, thank you for all the questions and the interest. And have a good day.

Good day.