Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you to this Annual General Meeting of QIAGEN. My name is Larry Rosen, and I am Chair of the Supervisory Board. Here on the podium, I'm joined by 3 colleagues from the Supervisory Board. Dr. Metin Colpan, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee and Co-Founder of QIAGEN; Dr. Toralf Haag, the Chair of the Audit Committee; and Professor Dr. Ross Levine, a member of the Supervisory Board, who also serves as the Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board. We have other members of the Supervisory Board, Professor Dr. Elaine Mardis; and Dr. Eva Pisa, joining us online. Also joining us on the podium are 2 managing Board members, Mr. Thierry Bernard, our CEO; and Mr. Roland Sackers, our CFO. I would also like to introduce Mr. Casper Nagtegaal and Mr. Lars Buiten from our law firm, De Brauw Blackstone, Westbrook NV; and Mr. Rene Meester and Ms. Magda De Bruyn from KPMG, our auditors. I'd also like to note the attendance of Professor Dr. [ Detlef Wesner ] in the audience. Professor Wesner was one of the founders of QIAGEN and serve for many years as Chair of the Supervisory Board. It is a great pleasure to see you again here today and to have your continued support for QIAGEN. Thank you again for your tremendous contributions to our success. Let me continue with a few formalities. First, we are offering a live webcast of this event on the Internet. The audience is in listen-only mode. For the record, I hereby state that the meeting has been convened with due observance of all legal and statutory provisions. As for the determination of the voting results, listed companies in the Netherlands are required to publish the results on their website within 15 days after the meeting. Experience shows that the number of shareholders present or represented at the meeting may fluctuate and this may affect the final voting results. It is not practical to process all of these changes during the meeting, so all shareholders present or represented at the beginning of this meeting shall be deemed to be present or represented during the entire meeting. The official language shall be English and Mr. Nagtegaal will act as Secretary. I would like to formally appoint him as such in accordance with Article 32 Paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association. If we have questions in Dutch, these will be translated by Mr. Nagtegaal, along with our answers. The record date for determination of shareholders entitled to vote was May 25, 2023. The total issued share capital amounted to EUR 2,308,293.09 and consisted of 230,829,308.67 shares at EUR 0.01 each. Each chair entitles the holder to cast 1 vote, except for the 2,791,971.11 shares held in treasury by QIAGEN and the 46.56 shares comprised of unconsolidated fractional shares that are excluded from voting. As a result, at the record date, the total number of shares with voting rights amounted to 228,037,291. Mr. Nagtegaal, would you please hand me the attendance list and count the votes present and represented at this meeting?

So I have not received the list yet, but I don't think there's an issue. We can just continue and then when the voting starts, I'll hand you the list so we can read out the numbers.

Okay. We do believe that more than 50% of the issued share capital is, in fact, represented. We'll use the following method for voting. For each voting item, I will propose that shareholders who are present here in the room vote by acclamation. If there are no objections against voting by acclamation, I will state it has been adopted by acclamation. For any shareholders and proxy shareholders who are against a specific proposal or who wish to abstain from voting, I ask that you please raise your hand. Please mention your name or the shareholder on behalf you're voting, of whom you are voting and your voting intentions and the number of shares voted for your intention. These votes shall be explicitly mentioned in the meeting minutes. I would now like to continue with Item 2 on the agenda. Second agenda item is the report of the Managing Board for 2022. The report is included in our annual report, which is available on our website at www.qiagen.com. Thierry Bernard will give a presentation on the progress of QIAGEN in 2022, and Roland Sackers will give a presentation on the financial performance. I'd now like to hand over the word to Thierry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you also for our Board members here present. And I'd like to highlight as well the presence of Professor [ Wesner ] here. I think this company has a great future, as I will try to show you today, but also it's strong because of its legacy. Having Dr. Colpan here and Dr. Wesner is a good tribute to this. Very quickly, I'm going to go through the presentation of our performance of 2022. As a quick reminder, this company, QIAGEN for the last 40 years, has been developing molecular solutions, both for the life science and the clinical world. In a nutshell, you see here the latest performance of more than $2 billion revenue, 6,000 QIAGENers all over the world. What I would like to insist here is the remarkable balance of our business model. Balance between life science and clinical diagnostic 50% or 50% of our revenues, this very specific razor blade business model where 88% of our revenues is made of consumables and related activities, especially services. So as you understand, and the bread and butter of our activities is to place many instruments all over the world. Those instruments are closed instruments and then obviously taking reagents and consumables on a very predictable basis, I would say. We try to ensure a complete continuum between a biological sample to the interpretation of the results to our customers. And once again, in a remarkable balance of activities between sample technologies, I'll come back to that. Assay technologies, automation system and the interpretation of all those results is what we call bioinformatics. Why is QIAGEN so relevant and so specific in life science and clinical diagnostic? Because this company has completely democratized access to molecular biology for hundreds and thousands of laboratories all over the world. It's very simple to see that there is a before and an after QIAGEN. Before QIAGEN, running a molecular run was quite cumbersome, complicated, and sometimes also dangerous in many lives. You had to have many rooms to run this. With QIAGEN with the standardization at the beginning of extraction and purification of nucleic acid, it's a real democratization of access to molecular solutions. And we can take 2 lessons from the COVID-19 crisis. The recent pandemic in my view, proved 2 things. First, the critical relevance of diagnostic solutions in health care value chain; and second, the critical superiority of diagnostic solution in the diagnostic value chain. And when I say about balance, balancing geography, balancing activities, you see also the spread of customers that we can serve from discovery and research academic customers to clinical diagnostic labs to pharma company with companion diagnostic, and it's sometimes less known, but also mainly police authorities, army authorities all over the world because of our forensic and human identification activities. I'll come back to that. For the last 4 years, we have proposed our Board a strategy focusing on what we call 5 pillars of growth. This strategy is stemming from the fact that we are a mid-cap. As I said before, a bit more than $2 billion revenues, more than 6,000 people. It's a mid cap. It's not a very large company. It's not a small company, a mid-cap is agile by nature, but as a fundamental challenge is critical mass, especially in a market which is constantly consolidating. Therefore, it is critical for the mid-cap to focus where we can take between the #1 and #3 position in the world. We need to focus when we are really relevant. And the 5 pillars of growth is here as well, extremely balanced. We rely on 2 leading position in the world: sample technology and QuantiFERON, which is mainly to this day, latent tuberculosis testing; and three, emerging very fast-growing market with differentiated technology, syndromic testing with QIAstat, high to mid-throughput PCR infectious disease testing with NeuMoDx and digital PCR with QIAcuity. Obviously, that doesn't mean that the rest of the activities, what we call the core QIAGEN doesn't grow or doesn't have growth potential. Indeed, our activities in next-generation sequencing are growing by double digit per year. For example, our activities in human identification forensic are also growing at double digit. But what we try to express with the strategies that we have to focus and the worst would be to spread this company to Fin. If you look at the performance, as I said before, in 2022, it was once again a very solid and good year for our company. We exceeded our guidance to the market, both on the top line and on the EPS. And we should highlight that amid an environment which is more and more volatile, obviously, COVID-19 was a significant factor for volatility. This company has proven to be extremely relevant in the fight against COVID 19 with more than 12 solutions developed in a record time against that virus, but we are not COVID dependent. At the same time, obviously, we had to navigate a significantly volatile economic, geopolitical and financial environment. Energy crisis because of war, for example, in Ukraine, the constraint on supply chains and obviously, the inflationary context specifically in 2022. This management as a real obsession with execution, and I'm not going to go through all the data of that slide. You can read it easily, but we can highlight 9 consecutive quarters of double-digit CER growth of our non-COVID portfolio. QIAGEN was probably the only and the first company in the market back in 2021, July to completely decouple our P&L from the volatility of COVID and really tell the market as early as July 2021, that our focus was on the non-COVID part of our portfolio. Innovation is key to our company. The last quarter, 2023, 11% of our revenues is dedicated to research and development. Once again, a significant level of new products launched every year, significant growth of our installed base, do not forget the famous razor blades movement. The more we place instrument, the more than we have, obviously, this generation of profitable growth, thanks to our consumables and reagents. Increased production capacity over the last 3 years. Most of the CapEx investment program are now behind us. Continuing, obviously, strengthening our balance sheet and strong generation of cash flow and also extreme attention paid to the strengthening also of our main resources, our headcount. Significant of newcomers coming and joining the company over the last 3 years, significant efforts in diversity. I'm very proud that this company is probably the only company on the market where every QIAGENers is incentivized. Every year on the progress of diversity in our top management and obviously enhanced governance with 4 new members of our Supervisory Board since 2021. We had significant ambition, obviously, for what we call our 5 pillars of growth. Once again, I'm not going to be -- going in the details of these slides. But last year, once again, we continue not only to check the box of what we took as a commitment to the market for our 5 pillars of growth, but also continuing development of innovation in sample tech, new instruments, new upgrade of instrument launch on menu development for QuantiFERON for QIAstat and for NeuMoDx and also for our digital PCR solution. Obviously, I would be available to answer any questions if you might have some during the question and answers. Moving to Q1 2023. Once again, a very solid quarter. Once again, QIAGEN did beat the guidance given to the Street on the top line and on the EPS. But what is extremely important is that we were again Q1 2023 at double-digit growth for our non-COVID portfolio. We told the market, it's one of our guidance criteria for 2023 that we will grow our non-COVID portfolio once again and more than double digit. It was not a quarterly guidance, a yearly guidance, but starting the year with already close to a 12% CER growth of non-COVID is extremely encouraging. We also invest a lot on ESG. ESG is really part of our DNA and all its dimension, environment, social and governance. Here again, you see here our efforts that we are developing every year in reduction of emissions, for example, in increased diversity in our workforce and also making sure that we develop a significant public health policy. And also, as I said before, in governance, 100% of strategical players committed as well to sustainable efforts and 78% of new employees with successfully completed compliance training. We have 3 main ways of obviously putting our strong balance sheet to play. Obviously, reinvesting our business, you saw in one of the slides, more than 60 spread the company Fin. And it's illustrated here by 2 key examples of 2022. As a sample prep company, we have significant consumption of enzymes for the development of our product. We also sell enzymes to third-party companies, other players in diagnostics. Strengthening our capabilities in enzyme is definitely key. It's easy to integrate in our existing portfolio. That's the rationale behind the acquisition of BLIRT in Poland, for example. As I said before, for more than 15 years, QIAGEN has been a key leader in forensic activities, crime scenes, war scenes in sample prep with the acquisition of Verogen early this year, we create a franchise in our portfolio of more than $100 million revenues with a significant double-digit growth potential. Those are the typical acquisition that are making QIAGEN also stronger and more successful. In a nutshell, we need obviously to continue to focus on delivering on our commitment quarter after quarter. This is how this company can obviously maintain its credibility on the market. We want to continue to focus on the development of our non-COVID portfolio. Yes, we will continue to be relevant for COVID or for any other outbreak if they happen, but the real objective is to push, obviously, our non-COVID portfolio. Continue to develop our 5 pillars of growth. This strategy has been proving to work for the last 4 years and obviously, continue a very serious mature and disciplined capital allocation for the success, obviously, of QIAGEN and an increased positive returns for our shareholders. Thank you. Lawrence?

Thanks, Thierry. I would like to now hand over the word to Roland for the financial presentation.

Yes. Thank you, Larry, and thank you all as well for me for joining us here in [ Hilton ] actually in Venlo today. It's a pleasure to see many familiar faces, and we appreciate your support to QIAGEN. I would also like to welcome, in particular, our co-founders, Metin Colpan and Professor Dr. [ Wesner ], to our meeting today, and I appreciate your continued support to QIAGEN. Before I start, I would like to again point out our disclaimer and remind you that further information can be found on our website at www.qiagen.com. I would like to review the key messages from our results for the full year '22, a year of significant change and development for all of us. First, we exceeded the outlook for net sales and adjusted earnings per share, thanks to outstanding growth in our non-COVID product portfolio while sales of products used in COVID testing declined significantly as expected from '21. Sales for '22 totaled USD 2.26 billion at constant exchange rates and this was above our outlook for about USD 2.25 billion CER. The key achievement was a 14% CER sales growth in our 5 pillars of growth, with all of the pillars exceeding their targets. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.46 at CER, and this was above our outlook for about $2.40 at CER. While achieving this goal for sales in '22, we still maintained a high level of profitability in a volatile environment. And we continue to have a high level of investments into our 5 pillars of growth as well as across our full portfolio. In terms of cash flow, we saw a 12% increase in operating cash flow to USD 715 million. And free cash flow rose 30% to USD 586 million as the heavy pace of investments into property, plant and equipment during the pandemic subsided. Moving to the next slide. I would like to now provide a more comprehensive overview of key financial parameters under U.S. GAAP plus additional metrics that together provide a good basis for comparison against peer companies. Net sales were USD 2.14 billion, a decline of 5% in '22 compared to '21 due to adverse currency movements against U.S. dollar, our reporting currency. Moving down the income statement. The adjusted operating margin was 30.6% of sales in '22 compared to 33.5% in '21. This was mainly due to our decision to accelerate investments into the business to support future growth opportunities. Turning to the components. The adjusted gross margin was 67.7% of sales in '22, down slightly from 67.9% in '21. The transfer '22 included favorable margin developments for QIAstat-Dx due to higher utilization and improvements in cartridge production. At the same time, we have opportunities to improve the gross margin, in particular, by better use of production capacity built up for new products. R&D investments rose to 8.9% of sales from 8.4% in '21 as we continue our investments into the portfolio at a high level to focus on innovation. Sales and marketing expenses rose in '22 to 22.1% of sales compared to 20.3% in '21. This was due to a higher level of commercialization activities after the slowdown during the pandemic as well as incremental investments into the 5 pillars of growth in light of the strong non-COVID sales trends. In terms of general and administrative expenses. This rose to 6.1% of sales from about 5.7% in '21 as we sought efficiency gains while making significant investments into our IT infrastructure and cybersecurity. Adjusted EPS for '22 under U.S. GAAP accounting standards was $2.46 at CER and above the outlook for about $2.40 CER. Results at actual rates were $2.38 due to the strong currency headwinds. The adjusted tax rate for '22 was 18%, which was at the same level as '21. Turning to the next slide. We are using our cash flow and healthy balance sheet growth while increasing returns to shareholders. In terms of cash flow transfer '22, we saw dynamic results in both operating cash flow and free cash flow. In terms of our balance sheet, our total consolidated net debt stood at USD 443 billion at the end of '22 compared to $876 million at the end of '21. As a result, our leverage ratio stood at 0.5x net debt to adjusted EBITDA compared to 0.9x at the end of '21. In terms of M&A activity, we have recently completed 2 bolt-on acquisitions. This involves the purchase of BLIRT in '22 to further develop our enzyme production capabilities and the acquisition of Verogen in January of '23 to advance our human identification on forensics capabilities. We continue to review additional acquisition opportunities with a keen focus on strategic fit and financial discipline. We are also reviewing ways to increase returns through share repurchase programs and will consider our options during the year. Moving to the next slide. In terms of sales among the 4 product groups, let's start with sample technologies. This portfolio is the heart of QIAGEN and contributes about 1/3 of total sales. Sample Technology sales showed a solid growth trend in non-COVID sales throughout '22 and also the mid-single-digit CER rate. These results helped us to exceed the '22 overall sales target for over USD 750 million at CER. Diagnostic Solutions is our second product group and represented about 1/3 of sales in '22 sales since the acquisition in 2011. For QIAstat-Dx, we see increasing demand for systems and growing consumables usage around the world. More than half of the QIAstat-Dx sales in '22 came from healthy non-COVID demand. Full year sales for QIAstat-Dx exceeded the target for above $85 million at CER. For NeuMoDx, the decline in '22 reflected strong COVID-19 testing demand in '21. However, NeuMoDx sales still exceeded the '22 target for over $80 million at CER and driven by growth in non-COVID applications. In the PCR nucleic acid amplification product group, which represents more than 15% of the total, non-COVID product group sales rose above 20% CER compared to a significant decline in the COVID-19 product groups. The QIAcuity system represented our entry into digital PCR and is included in this product group. These sales grew at a strong double-digit CER pace as sales exceeded the '22 target for over $55 million at CER. A key driver was reaching a milestone of over 1,300 total placements at the end of '22. In the genomics NGS Product Group, which represents over 10% of the total, product group sales declined slightly over '21, which experienced strong sales due to a surge in COVID variance sequencing in the prior year. This performance was driven by our QIAGEN Digital Insights Bioinformatics business and the expansion of our offering in terms of universal NGS panels for use with any sequencer. On this slide, we have included an overview on the COVID-19 impact to our performance for '22 and as we have been doing since the start of the pandemic. This provides clarity and understanding of our performance as we look to manage growth and our business expansions as a COVID tailwind subside as was the case in '22. Our non-COVID product group sales were $1.67 million in '22 and were up 14% at constant exchange rates from '21, showing the strong business expansion that represented one of the fastest growth rates in our industry. These sales also represented nearly 80% of total sales for the year. COVID 19 product group sales were USD 470 million and declined 29% CER from '21 as testing demand fell significantly. I would like to now give you an update on results by product type, the 2 customer classes and our 3 geographic regions. In terms of the product groups, consumables and related revenues represented nearly 90% of total sales and were unchanged for the year at constant exchange rates as a decline in COVID-19 product sales washed out gains in non-COVID areas. Instrument sales represented slightly more than 10% of sales and rose 1% CER amidst the same trends as we saw in consumables. Among the customer classes, Molecular Diagnostics and Life Science, both delivered underlying CER gains in '22 for non-COVID product groups as QIAGEN remained broadly balanced in serving these 2 categories. However, total results reflected the impact of lost COVID sales from '21. Looking at sales on a geographic basis. The Europe, Middle East and Africa and the Asia Pacific, Japan region showed growth, while the Americas region declined slightly. This was due to the significant decline in COVID-19 sales. However, all 3 regions had solid non-COVID sales growth at CER. On this slide, I would like to show you a reconciliation of the reported U.S. GAAP results with the adjusted results. The adjustments are in line with those of our peer companies. We provide this detailed level of information in all quarterly and annual results presentations so that shareholders have full transparency. This is particularly important for institutional shareholders and analysts covering QIAGEN and for comparison of companies in our sector. As you can see, the largest category in adjustments was related to purchased intangibles amortization. This was $75 million in terms of pretax income. In terms of business integration, acquisition and restructuring-related items, the results for '22 included cost for acquisition projects including the Verogen acquisition that was completed in January '23 and also for BLIRT in Poland. The charges also include costs related to the manufacturing integration of NeuMoDx. Additionally, this slide includes costs related to our decision to quickly stop business in Russia and Belarus after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These sales represented less than 1% of total business. As a Dutch company, we are also required to report results under IFRS or International Financial Reporting Standards. On this slide, you can see an overview of the differences between the net income in '22 of USD 423.2 million under U.S. GAAP and the higher level of net income of USD 575.7 million under IFRS. The difference amounts to about USD 152.5 million. The most significant difference relates to the fair value IFRS accounting of the convertible notes and warrants, and this led to an incremental $161 million in net income under IFRS. Another difference is how certain development expenses are handled. Under IFRS, certain internal development costs are capitalized and amortized over a multiyear period through cost of sales. Under U.S. GAAP, they are expensed immediately. This difference results in an increase to net income of about USD 4 million under IFRS in '22. I would like to again note that institutional investors look at the U.S. GAAP results since this is the most common and appropriate benchmark against companies in our sector. So as I mentioned earlier, the biggest difference under IFRS came from nonoperating income factors which have no cash impact. On this slide, you see our financing structure as of December 31, '22. We have consistently maintained a policy to secure a healthy balance sheet while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital deployment. Thanks to our very good cash generation, we had cash and short-term investments of around USD 1.4 billion at the end of '22. Given our healthy cash balances, we are using our balance sheet to repay debt at maturity. This is our intention with about $400 million of convertible notes, reaching maturity in the third quarter of '23. Our investment decisions are driven by relying on issuers of the highest credit quality and a good portion is invested in U.S. treasury builds. Given the increasing interest rate environment, these investments are expected to be accretive to our net income in '23. However, it goes without saying that the rising interest rate due to the high inflation rates is concerning from macro trends. Here you can see a profile of the employees at QIAGEN by region and function. Our QIAGENers are a key reason for our success, and we continue to attract and retain talented employees by providing interesting and rewarding career opportunities. At the end of '22, the total numbers of our employees rose 2% to more than 6,100 worldwide compared to 6,000 at the end of '21. Keep in mind that this compares to about 5,600 at the end of 2020 and shows the growth period we have gone through recently. You'll see a 5% increase in R&D personnel and now approaching 1,000 worldwide. This is reflected in the ongoing high level of R&D investments, which should remain at about 9% of sales or higher. We also added the staff across many other functions while staffing a production level of after significant increases in the recent years. The additional staff in sales and marketing has primarily focused on our 5 pillars of growth and increases the global presence of QIAGEN to our customers. We also continue to seek benefits of scale in our administration functions, especially to our important centers in Rockland and Manila. On the next slide, I would like to update you on our Investor Relations activities in '22. Our inclusion in the blue chip DUX since '21 is a recognition of the progress QIAGEN has made to deliver long-term profitable growth and create value for shareholders and other stakeholders. Even more important has been the contribution of QIAGEN solution to increasing our knowledge about the biology of life and improving outcome for patients. As for IR activities, we returned during '22 to seeing investors in person after the lockdowns and where we had to engage with the financial community through virtual meetings. It was a turbulent period for decisions on virtual versus in-person meetings. But we clearly experienced a shift back to in-person meetings during '22, and we are glad to be here again with you in person today. During '22, we collectively attended over 30 institutional investor conferences, over 20 road shows and held more than 160 individual investor meetings. In terms of coverage by analysts, we now have 23 analysts covering QIAGEN with a good balance between analysts in the U.S. and Europe. This is important to help address investor needs in these important regions. Here, you can see the share price development for QIAGEN on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from the start of '22 through June 16, '23 compared to the DAX index. It reflects that investors have been rotating out of stocks that were relevant during the pandemic and into other sectors as the economy has been recovering. Likewise on this slide, you see the development of the QIAGEN share price in the same period on the New York Stock Exchange. This performance has largely been in line with an index of biotech companies. Turning to my last slide. I would like to quickly summarize the key messages. First, '22 was an outstanding year for QIAGEN in many ways. Our teams exceeded the outlook we had set for net sales and adjusted earnings growth, and we had a solid year of cash flow trends. Second, the strong profitability throughout '22 reflects the strength of our businesses even as we dealt with a significant decline in COVID-19 product group sales. We are moving ahead in '23 as a stronger, more focused company, determined to help and develop leadership positions in our focus areas. Third, QIAGEN has a very healthy balance sheet and we are using this position to reinvest in the business and increase returns. The investments made in recent years to increase production capacity are designed to enhance our midterm growth prospects, pandemic and strengthen our foundations for future growth. And lastly, we want to reaffirm today our commitment to following our disciplined capital allocation strategy. This has worked well for us since 2012. And let me here again end by thanking our employees for the tremendous engagement. They are the reason for our outstanding performance and the basis for our continued success in '23 and the coming years. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Roland. At this time, I would like to provide you the opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding this report. Are there any questions?

Yes, please, if you would just give your name before you ask the question.

My name is [ Frank Koch ]. I'm coming from Germany. I have a question about we have a free cash flow more than $500 million. Why do we need to [ lean ] money?

Yes, happy to take that question, and welcome to our shareholder meeting. Clearly, the majority of our debt levels as of today are built around 5 to 7 years ago. And right now, we are in the repayment period. As I mentioned before, we are having more or less in the next few months, a $400 million repayment. And right now, we have, for example, are not planing to more or less to refinance that. So again, we use the opportunity as many other companies in times where we, in most cases, actually had 0 interest rate or below 1% interest rate levels to borrow money and which, again, in this environment is clearly beneficial as of today. And now we are, of course, repaying some of it before we are refinancing it.

Are there any further questions? Professor Wesner?

Yes. Thank you for the report. One sentence for our situation in China. One can read so much about the difficulties in China. And I was always convinced that QIAGEN is taking care of that very well. But can you say a word of that?

Absolutely, Professor Wesner. So the first comment is that obviously, China is a significant market, both for Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. It became in a very short time, the second market in the world just after North America, not for QIAGEN, but I'm talking market size at the moment. At the same time, it's a very specific market where the local authorities have decided for years now to favor the creation of Chinese local champions and favor national companies, local companies against foreign competition. Just an example of this, there has been 0 foreign diagnostic product for COVID approved in China and 0 therapeutic vaccine or drugs foreign products again, COVID approved in China either. And as you see, the resi process is not through because we have seen during COVID a lot of Chinese product coming to Europe and coming to the U.S. So if you want to be successful in China and if you want to be in China, you need to be investing locally in research and development and manufacturing. Everybody is doing that, and QIAGEN has done that for years where, beyond our headquarter of operation in Shanghai, we have also research and development and manufacturing site in Shenzhen, where we localize product as much as we can and where it's safe because obviously, there are sometimes some IP constraint for the Chinese market. We are a bit more specific than other companies because we also have a second brand in China that we have acquired some time ago. Second brand, which is operationally independent from QIAGEN in China. I said that our headquarter was in Shanghai. Their headquarter is in Beijing. It's a different sales and marketing team. It's a different management. And here with that second brand, we sell Chinese product to Chinese company. The result of this second brand is fully consolidated in our revenues. Last, we still have a very controllable exposure to the Chinese market. It's less than 6% of QIAGEN revenues. And if pre-COVID, I would have expected this market to, for us, grow at least at 10% per year because of what I just said, localization, pressure on prices, I expect now China to offer a 5% to 7% growth potential for QIAGEN products for the coming years.

Thanks, Thierry. Are there any additional questions? If that's not the case, I would like to conclude this item of the meeting.

And that brings us to item 3, the Supervisory Board report on the company's annual accounts for the calendar year 2022. The Supervisory Board report and the annual accounts have been prepared with due observance of legal and statutory provisions. Let me note that the Supervisory Board always places the highest priority on corporate governance principles stated by the Dutch Corporate Governance Code and the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance rules and other applicable laws. QIAGEN's compliance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code is described in detail in our corporate governance report, which is disclosed in our annual report. It is also available on the QIAGEN website. I would now like to provide an opportunity to ask questions regarding this report. Are there any questions? Since there are no questions, I would like to conclude this item of the agenda. Item 4 is the adoption of the annual accounts for the calendar year 2022. Before we continue with this Item 4, I can inform you that the holders of 158,656,471 common shares in the capital of the company are present or represented at this meeting who in total may cast 158,656,471 votes. The annual accounts have been approved by the Supervisory Board, and we have proposed them to the shareholders for adoption. The annual accounts have been available for inspection in our website and in our offices in Venlo. At this time, I would now like to ask Mr. Meester from KPMG to address the meeting. Mr. Meester?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, dear shareholders of QIAGEN N.V. My name is Rene Meester. I'm responsible signing partner for IFRS financial statements of the company. I would like to spend a few minutes explaining the highlights of our audit for the 2022 financial statements and share some observations as recommended in the Dutch Order Guidance 1118 about the role of the external auditor in the Annual General Meeting. As shown on the slide behind me, there are 5 topics we would like -- I would like to discuss. These are about our audit opinion. They are about materiality, risk assessment, audit scoping and our key audit matter. The first topic I would like to discuss is our independent auditors report, which covers both the consolidated and company financial statements. We issued an unqualified opinion with no limitations. In other words, that is what a shareholder wants an unqualified opinion. As part of our audit of the financial statements, we also assess the order information included in the annual report, such as the Supervisory Board report, the report of the Managing Board, Remuneration Report, Corporate Governance Report and the ESG report. Based on the procedures that we performed, we conclude that the report contains the information required by the standards and we have not identified any material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Next topic is materiality. Materiality is used in planning our audit and designing our audit approach and evaluate identified order statements. For the 2022 financial statement audit, we have set our materiality at USD 20 million, which is the same as in the prior year. We agreed with the Audit Committee that we would report to them any identified individual misstatement exceeding USD 1 million or items which are smaller but considered material from a qualitative perspective. The next item is our risk assessment. As part of our audit, we conduct a risk assessment to determine those areas which are most susceptible to error. Generally speaking, most risks resides in the larger account balances and in accounting estimates. The key accounting estimates for QIAGEN's financial statements relate to the accounting for uncertain tax benefits -- unrecognized tax benefits, I'm sorry, which is also a key order matter. It's about the valuation of deferred tax assets, valuation of derivatives and the impairment testing for intangible fixed assets. We conclude that the estimates as prepared by the company are balanced and within an acceptable bandwidth. During our audit, we also tested controls to the extent considered relevant to the financial statement audit. Based on the order procedures performed, we conclude that there are no significant control deficiencies. This is also what we communicated to the Supervisory Board. With respect to culture within an organization. This is a very broad topic with many aspects. During the audit, as auditors, the main aspects of culture that we can observe related to the company's overall attitude with respect to financial reporting, communications with the auditor and their response to audit findings. Let me share some observations in this area. I've observed that the people across QIAGEN are very dedicated professional and open towards the external auditor and our findings. Upcoming accounting and reporting topics are discussed with us proactively providing us sufficient time to assess these topics. When it comes to reporting audit findings and communicating audit misstatements, QIAGEN has a very clear policy. Whenever possible, all identified audit misstatements reported by KPMG are adjusted in the financial statements, resulting in no uncorrected audit misstatements in the 2022 financial statement audit. These examples illustrate a positive perception of culture within QIAGEN. For the sake of completeness, however, I would like to note that such a perception by its nature, is subjective. And the financial statement audit is not designed or intended to assess the overall culture within an organization. Next topic is our scope of the audit. We achieved a relatively high order scope in designing our audit. We cover 96% of total assets and 87% of consolidated revenues with our audit procedures. Our scoping did not change significantly compared to the prior year. In terms of dealing with technically-difficult issues and topics, we involve KPMG specialists whenever necessary. For the 2022 audit, we have engaged KPMG specialists in the areas of tax accounting, share-based compensations and the valuation of derivatives. Also, this has not changed significantly compared to the prior year. This brings us to the final topic for today, which is key audit matters. Key audit matters are those matters that in our professional judgment are most significant to the financial statement audit. For the 2022 audit, we identified a key audit matter on the accounting for unrecognized tax benefits. QIAGEN operates in various tax jurisdictions and tax laws can be complex. As a response to the identified risk, we involved KPMG tax specialists in various jurisdictions to challenge management's tax positions. Based on the procedures that we performed, we conclude that the company's accounting for unrecognized tax benefits is supported by appropriate evidence and we conclude that the related disclosure in the financial statements is in accordance with the accounting standards. This concludes my presentation for today. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Meester. I would like to now see if there are any questions from our shareholders related to this topic including the allocation of profits. Since there are no questions, I would now like to proceed with the adoption of the company's annual accounts. Before moving on to the voting, I would like to repeat that the adoption of the annual accounts for 2022 implies approval of the allocation of the -- by the Supervisory Board of profits to retained earnings. As a result, no dividend will be paid to shareholders out of the results from 2022. Let's now move on to voting. This will take place in accordance with the procedures that I explained at the beginning of the meeting. I would, therefore, like to ask, is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal under Agenda Item 4 has been adopted by acclamation. And that takes us to agenda item 5, the advisory vote on the remuneration report 2022. This item is placed on the agenda pursuant to the Dutch implementation of the Shareholder Rights Directive 2. On behalf of the Compensation Committee, I'd like to provide a short explanation on the implementation in 2022 of the remuneration policies for the Managing Board and Supervisory Board. The remuneration report is based on the remuneration policies that were approved by a vast majority of shareholders at our Annual General Meeting in 2021. Information on the specific remuneration elements are included in the report for 2022. This is available on QIAGEN's website in the Investor Relations section and on a summary page with various annual financial reports. During 2022, the compensation committee in consultation with an independent consulting firm, conducted a benchmarking on the implementation of the remuneration policy for the Managing Board and overall remuneration levels offered by QIAGEN. These levels are benchmarked against companies in markets in which QIAGEN operates. The goal is to ensure total compensation at or below median market levels. The levels were set with consideration of many factors. These include the benchmark results, the person's experience as well as the complexity of the position, scope and areas of responsibility. The total target remuneration package of the Managing Board consists of a combination of base salary, short-term variable cash compensation and long-term stock-based incentives. Variable compensation consists of an annual cash bonus and stock-based compensation. This serves as a retention mechanism, aligns the interest of our leaders with those of shareholders and other stakeholders and supports our goal to create long-term value. To ensure a link to performance, a significant portion of remuneration granted to the members of the Managing Board is variable and contingent upon the performance of the individual and the company. Performance goals are set at ambitious levels to motivate and drive performance with a focus on achieving both long-term strategic initiatives as well as short-term objectives based on annual plans. Are there any questions on the remuneration report? Since there are no questions, I would like formally to put this agenda item to an advisory vote. Is there any advisory voting against the remuneration report 2022? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that a positive advisory vote was cast on the remuneration report 2022 by acclamation. I would then like to conclude this item of the meeting. Item 6 is the reservation and dividend policy. This is a nonvoting item on our reservation and dividend policy. Our policy has always been to retain profits by way of reserve. QIAGEN believes this policy benefits shareholders and is aligned with their tax preferences. As a result, QIAGEN will not pay a dividend out of the profits from 2022. The profits will be retained in reserves to support business expansion. At this time, I would like to give shareholders the opportunity to ask questions. Are there any questions on this item? I would, therefore, like to conclude this item of the meeting. Item 7 is the discharge from liability of the Managing Directors for the performance of their duties during calendar year 2022. The next -- this agenda item involves the proposal to discharge the members of the Managing Board from liability, from performance of their duties during 2022, as described in the 2022 annual report and the 2022 annual accounts or as otherwise disclosed to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Before I put this item up for voting, I would like to give shareholders the opportunity to discuss and ask questions. Are there any questions on this item? Since there are no questions, I would like to formally put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone that would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Item 8, the next agenda item involves the proposal to discharge the members of the Supervisory Board from liability for the performance of their duties during 2022, as described in the 2022 annual report and the 2022 annual accounts or as otherwise disclosed to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Before I put this matter up for voting, I would like to give shareholders the opportunity to discuss and ask questions on this item. Are there any questions? Since there are no questions, I would like to formally put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone that wants to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Item 9 is the reappointment of the Supervisory Directors of the company for a term running up to and including the date of the Annual General Meeting in 2024. The next agenda item or this agenda item, involves proposals to reemploy supervisory directors who are currently serving on the Supervisory Board for a period as said beginning on the date following the date of this Annual General Meeting and up to and including the date of the Annual General Meeting in 2024. The Articles of Association provide that the joint meeting of the Managing Board and Supervisory Board has a right to make a binding nomination for the appointment of a member of the Supervisory Board. The joint meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for the reappointment to the Supervisory Board of the following colleagues: Dr. Metin Colpan; Dr. Toralf Haag; Professor Dr. Ross L. Levine; Professor Dr. Elaine Mardis; Dr. Eva Pisa; Mr. Stephen H. Rusckowski; Ms. Elizabeth E. Tallett; and myself, Lawrence A. Rosen. Steve Rusckowski recently joined the Supervisory Board after most recently serving as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quest Diagnostics, which is also one of our biggest customers. Steve brings extensive experience in the health care industry as well as in general management on an international basis. Prior to his role at Quest, he served as CEO of Philips Healthcare, which became the largest unit of Royal Philips Electronics under his leadership. He has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Xerox and Covidien. Steve, thank you for joining our Supervisory Board, and we very much look forward to working with you in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Thomas Ebeling for his service to the Supervisory Board. Thomas decided for personal reasons not to stand for reelection. We respect his decision and thank him for his many contributions to our Board discussions and wish him all the best for the future. Now on to the voting and the results. As an agenda item relates to my own reappointment, I will ask Toralf Haag to deal with this proposal after I have addressed all the other proposals in this agenda item. According to the company's Articles of Associations, the proposals will be adopted unless they are overruled by at least 2/3 of the votes cast as being against the proposal, provided that such votes also represent more than 50% of the issued share capital as at the record date of this meeting. Are there any questions regarding the proposed appointments of the supervisory directors? Since there are no questions, I'd like to propose the following resolutions for the appointment of the following persons as Supervisory Directors. First of all, with respect to Dr. Metin Colpan, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Dr. Toralf Haag, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Professor Dr. Ross Levine, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Professor Dr. Elaine Mardis, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Dr. Eva Pisa, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Mr. Stephen H. Rusckowski, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Ms. Elizabeth Tallett, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. As mentioned earlier, I will now ask Toralf to deal with the item concerning my own reappointment. Thanks, Toralf.

Thanks, Larry. Ladies and gentlemen, would anyone like to ask questions regarding the proposed reappointment of Mr. Lawrence A. Rosen as Supervisory Director? Since there are no further questions, I hereby put the proposal to reappoint Mr. Lawrence A. Rosen as a Supervisory Director to vote. Is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Before I ask Larry to take over again, I would like to congratulate him on his reappointment as Supervisory Director.

Thank you, Toralf. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to thank you for the trust in all of us and the confidence in us you provided with your voting. I congratulate my colleagues on their reappointment and look forward to continuing our high level of collaboration and engagement. I would now like to move on to the next agenda item. Item 10 is the reappointment of the managing directors of the company for a term running up to and including the date of the Annual General Meeting in 2024. Our 2 managing directors, Mr. Thierry Bernard and Mr. Roland Sackers are proposed to be reappointed for a period beginning on the date following the date of this Annual General Meeting until and including the date of the Annual General Meeting in 2024. In accordance with the company's Articles of Association, the joint meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for their reappointment. According to the Articles of Association, these proposals will be adopted unless they are overruled by at least 2/3 of the votes being cast against the proposal, provided that these votes also represent over 50% of the issued share capital as at the record date of this meeting. Shareholders will vote for each nominee for appointment to our Managing Board on an individual basis. Ladies and gentlemen, would any of you like to ask questions regarding the nominees? Since there are no questions, I propose the following resolution for the appointment of the following people as Managing Directors. With respect to Mr. Thierry Bernard, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Mr. Roland Sackers, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Let me congratulate both of you on your reappointment as members of the Managing Board. Item 11 involves the reappointment of KPMG Accountants N.V. to audit the financial statements of the company for the year ending December 31, 2023. The auditors examine the annual accounts of the company and are for the purpose thereof designated by the General Meeting of Shareholders in accordance with Section 2:393 of the Dutch Civil Code. The Audit Committee conducted an independent assessment of the performance of the company's external auditor, KPMG Accountants N.V. over the past year. Given the quality, scope and planning of the audit and the independence of reporting, it was proposed to the General Meeting of Shareholders to again appoint KPMG Accountants N.V. So on this item, would anyone like to ask questions? Since there are no questions, I would like to put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. The next 2 points on the agenda concern the proposals to renew the current authorizations of the Supervisory Board to issue shares and exclude preemptive rights. The limits are the same as in authorizations approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting in 2022. The first proposal is set out in Agenda Item 12a. This involves the authorization of the Supervisory Board until December 22, 2024, to issue a number of ordinary shares and financing preference shares and grant rights to subscribe for such shares, the aggregate par value of which shall be equal to the aggregate par value of 50% of shares issued and outstanding in the capital of the company as at December 31, 2022, as included in the annual accounts for the calendar year. The second one is set out in Agenda Item 12b. This involves the authorization of the Supervisory Board until December 22, 2024, to restrict or exclude the preemptive rights with respect to issuing ordinary shares or granting subscription rights. The aggregate par value of such shares or subscription rights shall be up to a maximum of 10% of the aggregate par value of all shares issued and outstanding in the capital of the company as of December 31, 2022. These items are separate voting items but will be dealt with in a combined manner for efficiency. You can find further details on these agenda items in the proxy statement. These authorizations cover a period of 18 months from the date of this Annual General Meeting until December 22, 2024. According to the company's Articles of Association, the proposal set forth under Item 12a may adopt -- may be adopted by an affirmative vote of a simple majority of the votes cast. As more than 50% of the company's issued share capital is represented, the proposals included in Item 12b shall also be validly adopted if adopted by an affirmative vote of a simple majority of votes cast. Would anyone like to ask questions regarding these items? Since there are no questions, I would like to put Proposals 12a and 12b to a vote. Is there anyone against Proposal 12a? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting on Proposal 12a? I hereby record that the Proposal 12a has been adopted by acclamation. Now moving on to the second part of this agenda item. Is there anyone against the proposal of 12b? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting on Proposal 12b? I hereby record that the Proposal 12b has been adopted by acclamation. Item 13, the next item involves a vote on the proposal to renew the Managing Board's current authorization to acquire shares in the capital of the company. Shareholders are being asked at this meeting to authorize the Managing Board, subject to approval of the Supervisory Board to acquire shares in the company's own share capital. The limits are outlined in the notes to this agenda item included in the proxy statement. The authorization shall be valid for a period of 18 months until December 22, 2024. Repurchased shares may be held in treasury to satisfy obligations under our employee share-based remuneration plans. Would anyone like to ask questions regarding this item? Since there are no questions, I would like to put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone that wants to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Item 14 is the discretionary rights for the Managing Board to implement a capital repayment by means of a synthetic share repurchase. This item is the same as proposed and approved, virtually unanimously, by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting last year in June 2022. This item grants full discretionary rights to the Managing Board, subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board, to implement a capital repayment of up to USD 300 million to our shareholders by means of a so-called synthetic share repurchase. This type of repurchase involves 3 related consecutive amendments to the Articles of Association, which will, together with an authorization to have these 3 amendments executed be put to a vote as 1 single voting item today. Detailed information on the repurchase is included in the explanatory notes to the agenda for this meeting. QIAGEN, along with many other large publicly-traded Dutch companies have used synthetic share repurchases as a way to increase returns to all shareholders. This approach is faster and more efficient than through traditional open market share repurchase programs, which are often limited by tax restrictions. Our strategic preference remains to invest capital in the business and also, in particular, in acquisitions. However, should the opportunity arise and if it would be in the best interest of our shareholders and other stakeholders, we would consider implementing this repurchase authorization. As you know, we implemented a similar synthetic share repurchase in early 2017 to return about USD 250 million to shareholders while the plans to do so were announced in August of 2016. With this authorization in advance, we can shorten the implementation period and also eliminate certain costs and processes. As mentioned, the implementation of this repurchase scheme requires 3 amendments to the Articles of Association. Although each amendment forms a separate item on the agenda, all items will be put to a vote as 1 voting item. The reason is that all proposed amendments are necessary to complete the synthetic share repurchase. So they are deemed to be undividable and inseparable, and this is why they have been put on the agenda as 1 voting item. Before voting, I would like to give you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

Yes. My question is you will divide the shares -- not divide the shares, to make a reverse stock split. You want to make a reverse -- do we really have the necessarity to do this because I'm a small investor, have around about 1,000 shares only. And if you make a reverse stock split, and there are parts of the shares, they will be sold. And for this transaction, a normal German bank receives much cash from us. This costs in 2017, about EUR 35 to get EUR 6 from your company back. Why do we do such a thing?

Roland, can you answer that question?

Yes. While I can't, of course, comment on the fee structure of each individual bank, that would be clearly [ (shameful) ] for any bank to do so. Again, I only can tell how my bank they had because as you know, I'm a shareholder as well. And as typically, if you have French shares, by definition, it's always a smaller amount, they waive their fees. So it would be actually interesting to know that bank because I would like to have the discussion with them as well. Of course, that shouldn't be the case. At the end of the day what we clearly want to do here is a very reasonable synthetic share buyback, which, as we know in most [ Geo tax ] even has tax advantages for the shareholders, and that's a plan and it should be -- it shouldn't be disattractive to shareholders because of fee structures of banks. So again, if you are willing to give me some insight on the name of the bank, I'm more than happy to follow up on that as well.

Thanks, Roland. Are there any additional questions? If there are no further questions, I'd like to formally put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that Agenda Item 14 has been adopted by acclamation. The next item, Item 15 involves the proposal to cancel fractional shares held in treasury. This relates to the synthetic share repurchase proposal that we just addressed. And like the previous item also matches the proposal that received overwhelming shareholder support in 2022. Synthetic share repurchase procedure includes a share consolidation in accordance with a certain consolidation ratio. As a result of the share consolidations, shareholders holding an amount of shares that cannot be completely divided into a whole number in accordance with the consolidation ratio receive fractional shares. With our first synthetic share repurchase, fractional shares were created. QIAGEN repurchased a number of shares of these fractional shares and currently holds 44.11 shares comprised of unconsolidated fractional shares in treasury. As explained in the proxy materials, QIAGEN may also undertake certain steps to make whole the fractional shares held by shareholders. Our data shows that we have 78 shareholders with fractional shares and it would require approximately 32 shares to make them whole. These shares would come from treasury and at no cost to shareholders and would be issued with no proceeds to QIAGEN. Taking care of these fractional shares would also greatly reduce the administrative burden on QIAGEN. As more than 50% of the company's issued share capital is represented at this meeting, this proposal shall be validly adopted by a simple majority of votes cast. Are there any questions on this proposal? If there are no questions, I would like to formally put the proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? I hereby record that Agenda Item 15 has been adopted by acclamation. The next item is the last voting item on the agenda, and it involves approval of a new stock plan under which equity grants may be made to employees and consultants and to members of the Managing Board and Supervisory Board. The stock plan currently in force will expire in the spring of 2024, and prior to the scheduled date of the next Annual General Meeting. Therefore, it is proposed to replace the current plan with a new stock plan. The terms and conditions of the proposed stock plan are attached to the agenda of this meeting as an annex. It is proposed to reserve an aggregate of 10 million common shares under the new plan. Awards under the plan will be made by the Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee may delegate this authority to a supervisory director or officer to the extent it concerns grants to other than supervisory directors. Would anyone like to ask questions regarding this item? Since there are no questions, I would like to put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. We have now voted on all the proposals on the agenda. At this time, I would like to provide you with the opportunity to ask any other questions that you may have. Are there any other questions? Thank you. I believe all of your questions have therefore been answered. Before I close this meeting, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, I'd like to thank the Managing Board, the Executive Committee and all of our 6,200 employees worldwide for their contributions to the success of QIAGEN. My colleagues and I and the Supervisory Board have great confidence in our future growth prospects, and the impact QIAGEN can have on helping to make improvements in life possible. I would like to thank all of you for your attendance and contributions. This meeting is an important opportunity to meet with our shareholders, and we appreciate your ongoing support. Have a safe trip home, and we look forward to seeing you in a year for our next Annual General Meeting. Thank you.