Avantor: Market Share Stability & Switching Costs

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In terms of the market share structure, could you discuss the differences between the US and Europe? My understanding is that Thermo Fisher is much stronger in the US, with VWR, now Avantor, as number two, and it's the reverse in Europe. Can you talk about the market share structures there? Over time, have they generally been stable? Additionally, from a customer perspective, why are the market shares so stable? Is it difficult to switch from one to the other? What makes them such stable, sticky businesses?

That was the model that VWR or Fisher offered, a one-stop-shop, from plastic wear, glassware, chemicals, any kind of life science related reagents - anything you need (for the most part), this one company will provide at reasonable cost. They focused a lot on the supply chain over the years when I was there, we invested a lot in back ending all the way to the supplier. For example, if somebody sends a purchase order today, our goal was to provide an order acknowledgment immediately, so you know exactly when the order will be delivered. Previously, it was based on SAP estimates and historical data, but we aimed for accuracy, even with suppliers who do direct factory shipments, or DFS, also known as drop ships.

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Looking 10 years ahead, with Michael leaving and Emmanuel coming on board soon, do you think the issues Avantor is facing are fixable? What are your thoughts on the fundamental business quality of both Fisher and Avantor in terms of relevance, recurring revenues from a customer perspective, switching costs, barriers to entry, and that sort of thing?

The value these companies brought to manufacturers was in providing feedback. I promoted the idea of "supplier as our customer" during strategy meetings. The feedback we gathered from our actual customers was extremely valuable to our suppliers and manufacturers. By feeding that back to them, we added value. In return, we received better pricing, terms, and access to products compared to Fisher. With the digital marketplace now, some of that friction has disappeared. A $100 million, $50 million, or $200 million company can set up a nice e-commerce platform to reach the entire world. They will still need distributors, but their dependence on them will decrease as they gain direct access to customers. This will make these companies slightly less relevant.

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