Chief Executive Officer, Ambu A/S
CEO Meelby Jensen on holding Ambu’s top spot in single-use scopes; Also, Why is Wall Street cranky?
A little over a year after taking over the CEO role at Ambu A/S, Britt Meelby Jensen visits the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast to draw lessons from her career that led her to lead the single-use endoscope leader last year. At the time, Meelby Jensen says Ambu was missing Wall Street expectations. In this interview, Jensen highlights the benefits of single-use endoscopes, such as improved workflow and reduced waiting times, and emphasizes Ambu's focus on sustainability. She’ll also review the company’s plan to retain its position in the white-hot single-use scope industry. But first Host Tom Sale...
About Britt Jensen
Britt Meelby Jensen, CEO of Ambu A/S, discussed the company's position in the single-use endoscope market on the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast in August 2024. She stated that when she took over the CEO role, Ambu was missing Wall Street expectations and facing challenges with declining profitability and unmet revenue targets. Jensen said the chairman asked her to join the company during that period, and she expressed excitement about the company's potential to change the paradigm in endoscopy. Jensen highlighted benefits of single-use endoscopes, including improved workflow and reduced waiting times, and noted that reusable scopes can lead to rescheduling or cancellation of appointments due to availability issues. She also emphasized Ambu's focus on sustainability and outlined the company's plan to retain its leading position in the single-use scope industry.
Transcript (54 segments)
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Tom Salami0:00
Hey everybody, Tom Salami here of Device Talks. Welcome back to the Device Talks Weekly podcast. A little later in the podcast I'm going to share an interview I did with Britt Milby Jensen. She is the CEO of Ambu, which is the world's leading supplier of single-use scopes. So we'll talk about that, we'll talk about her career path and many other things. Before we get into that great conversation, I chatted with my colleagues Sean Hulley, who's associate editor of Mass Device, and of course the great Chris Newmarker, executive editor of Mass Device. It's earnings week. We didn't focus a lot on numbers or specific reports, but really just trying to capture a tone of earnings, of how companies are being impacted by earnings reports and how investors are responding. So we'll cover all of that in our Newsmakers section. But before we begin this podcast episode, I want to remind you that Device Talks West is happening on October 18th and 19th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Our early bird rate is on. You can attend this great event, two days of content, programming, insightful instruction, case studies, discussions, panels, networking, cocktails, friendships to be had, all for $395. You can get in on our early bird rate, so make sure you do that. Do not wait. Go to devicetalks.com to register. All right, that's it, let us get this podcast started. Oh, and one more thing, we're not going to put out a podcast next week because I'll be off. I'm going to be dropping my oldest son off at Purdue, and it's going to be quite the week. So no podcast, but we'll be back in two weeks.
Chris Newmarker, how are you, sir? Good to be here, Tom. Good to be back. Who's that with you? I see somebody there with you, Chris Newmarker. It's kind of a bit of a silhouette, but you know, he's got a little bit of a light behind him, but yeah, I think, I think you know what, I think that's Sean Hulley. Yeah. We need to get Sean a ring light or something like that. Yeah, yeah, I know, poor Sean. I'm just, I'm moving in a month, so we'll see how the lighting is in the new place. I'm sorry. Yeah, if I wasn't in this room, you'd be hearing power saws in the background. So take what you can get. Are you moving from one basement to another or are you, uh, no, third, third floor. Moving on up, huh? Nice. Third floor of three, yes. Oh boy, fantastic. I grew up in a triple-decker and third-floor people are always a little, little kooky, I gotta say, so you'll fit right in, I'd imagine. Basement people are too, so maybe. Yeah, we did not have basement people. So be a good neighbor. You're planning like every morning at six you're going to do about like 200 jumping jacks probably. Like, yeah, then get my Vitamix going and, you know. Yeah, you usually listen to heavy metal first thing in the morning, right? Like a little Always Who Doesn't. Me, exactly. All right, gentlemen, well, can't wait to see Sean's new natural lighting. That's going to be, that's going to be something we're all looking forward to.
But, uh, this week you both have been, uh, diving deep in the earnings calls for, uh, for medtech. What quarter are we on? We're on Q2, right? I guess it depends on the company, but most companies Q2. Yeah. But, uh, the reports you've had on Mass Device, you know, companies seem to be doing okay, but investors are like, I don't know. Are investors, uh, what's the overall take? Are investors being a little cranky? Yeah, maybe, you know, I'm trying to like channel them a bit, you know, I don't know. It's, uh, you know, there, yeah, there definitely, uh, seems to be, it kind of reminds me of like being at a restaurant and you seeing that person who's like, you know, complaining, you know, about the particular type of wine they just got or, you know, there's not enough like rosemary sprinkled on the fries or whatever. You know, that seems to be kind of the mood right now, you know, when it comes to medtech companies and their earnings reports, like there's just no, no forgiveness.
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Chris Newmarker4:38
What were some of the companies, uh, that you, you've sort of seen that dynamic happen, Chris? You know, you covered Phillips. Yeah, I mean, Phillips. I mean, they, for their second quarter, they had, you know, 9% year-over-year sales growth. Um, you know, they, you know, their, uh, you know, net income was, uh, you know, much, you know, much larger than in the same quarter a year ago. Um, but, um, you know, they had, uh, they had, you know, some, um, declining comparable order intake. The, uh, you know, Philips CEO Roy Jacobs described it as, uh, lumpy. You know, and, you know, because of that, as of today, their, their stock is down more than 3% over the past month.
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Tom Salami5:19
I'm still unclear on what lumpy means. How lumpy? I mean, that definitely... unsteady? Just like a non-steady flow? Steady might have been better. Yeah, lumpy. I kind of, you know, I just think of oatmeal. Lumpy oatmeal. I mean, no wonder the stock went down, right? You can't, can't put a lot of value in something that's lumpy. Very, very few positive things carry the modifier of lumpy. I don't want lumpy mashed potatoes, mattresses, nothing, nothing, no, there's nothing good about lumpy. Don't you want to buy this nice lumpy mattress? Like, no, no, this new couch is just so lumpy. Anyway, all right, so, so Phillips, it, but, but what were some, I mean, the 9%, was that meeting Wall Street's expectations? Were they expecting more than that, uh, the growth that was reported? Uh, so are these companies meeting expectations and, and investors just aren't rewarding that success?
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Chris Newmarker6:19
A lot of companies are, yeah, a lot of companies are, are beating the expectations, but, you know, the, uh, the markets are, you know, saying like, you know, no, we want more. I mean, I mean like Zimmer Biomet is another good example. They beat the street, yeah, in, uh, in Q2, um, they upped their guidance for the year. And, um, you know, and they had, uh, you know, Truist analysts saying that they, uh, thought the second quarter results were good but quote-unquote might not be enough on elevated utilization expectations. So, you know, so Zimmer Biomet stock right now is down more than 11% over the past month, you know, after, after that.
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Tom Salami7:04
And just to be clear, we started having this conversation a few days ago, uh, before Fitch issued its downgrade. I mean, that was, we're talking on Friday right now and, uh, you know, you know, Fitch just earlier in the week, uh, you know, announced a downgrade of the US credit rating. But, you know, actually that hasn't had much of an effect on the overall, overall markets. I mean, you know, like we're, you know, we're seeing this pickiness, this pickiness over medtech stocks. But, you know, as far as like, you know, the, uh, you know, the, you know, what seems to be like a hostage situation every time, every time there's a budget negotiation in Washington, I mean, the market seems to be kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, you know, so, you know, we're moving on with that for now.
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Sean Hulley7:46
Sean, what, any, uh, any examples stick out in your mind? Yeah, I mean, both Hologic and Baxter, two big companies that beat the street, posted seemingly good results, and both saw their stocks languish. And there's a lot of questions. I think a lot of the issue is some of these companies are, you know, looking towards the future and thinking about what's coming next, and the analysts are taking account. Hologic, there's a lot of questions over can they return to a level of normalcy post-COVID-19 sales. You know, they ramped up for diagnostics and now that's clearly, and I think a lot of companies that had COVID-related products are, are seeing that, and now analysts are questioning that. Baxter, on the other hand, you know, had a divestiture of its BioPharma Solutions business, which had some questions over the timeline, so the analysts weren't happy about that. I haven't seen analysts talking about it yet, it was only last night that it came out, but Tandem's results, they reset their guidance because they're restructuring some plans around the new insulin pump that just got cleared last month. And you would think investors would be thrilled, over, you know, they're ramping up production or they're getting commercial ducks in a row for a new insulin pump and a new market, but their stock was trading 15% down after hours when their results came out because they reset, just because they reset their guidance.
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Chris Newmarker9:14
I, I don't, oh but hey, we're, we're talking now, like, you know, Friday morning though, and, uh, now they're up 4%. So maybe, maybe the investors woke up the next morning, you know, had a, had a cup of coffee and were like, oh, you know, this wasn't so bad. Maybe, maybe that plays into the whole, they're being very fickle. I don't know. Yeah, right. I mean, you know, you, you were last night writing that up and it was like heading down all that way after hours, and, you know, just, you know, maybe a soothing earnings call, you know, like just a good night's sleep was what the investors needed, needed to be a little more forgiving, perhaps. Hopefully, hopefully an analyst note comes out about that and I can see maybe there's a little extra in there that caused the turnaround, but yeah, no, it's, uh, it's an interesting, like I said, fickle might be a good word. Yeah, fickle might be even better than picky or cranky, it's, you know. But yeah, maybe it's a Device Talks Weekly, uh, weekly bump. Let's, let's take credit for it. Yeah, they knew we'd be talking about this. They knew that. I jinxed it in my poor lighting. It is very bad lighting. So investors aside, uh, what kind of thing are we, what kind of sense are you getting from the analysts who are calling the, the calls, the questions that are coming from these companies? Is there generally a feeling that the companies are doing what they need to do to, to meet analyst expectations? I know we were talking about the numbers just earlier, but what, any sense from the tone of the calls? Anything, has anything changed at all? Has it been pretty much run-of-the-mill from what you've had in past quarters?
You know, Sean, when I've been listening to it, it's been a lot of like, well, this is, well this is great, congratulations on your, on your consensus-beating, whatever, you know, but let's drill down into this. Like, you know, that, that seems to be a lot of like, it's almost like, like, yeah, this is good, congratulations, like, what more can you do for us? Like, that seems to be, it's been a lot of, oh, these results are, you know, surface level, you know, what's going on, like, what's going on with the business? You know, they're talking about whatever case may be, whether it's regulatory stuff or commercial launches, they, they want to drill down into that stuff. They're not really worried about, you know, a couple cents here and there on your EPS, I think.
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Tom Salami11:33
Yeah, now, all right, so overall things are going in the right direction, uh, for the most part, obviously some companies are having more difficulties than others. Let's focus on that. And, and are there any companies that have stumbled this quarter, um, that this, that Wall Street is justifiably dinging them for doing so?
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Chris Newmarker11:56
Well, definitely, like the, the lumpy order intake, that definitely, uh, definitely was a moment for sure. Um, you know, I, um, I don't know if I'd call it a, I'd also, like, have, like, mention, like, another, another one we didn't mention was, um, you know, Siemens Healthineers, you know, they were reporting that they were having temporary logistics challenges, you know, over at, uh, over at Varian. Um, you know, this was about, like, outbound logistics, you know, order backlogs. You know, so I, he was kind of like, oh, you know, this is good overall, big order backlog, right? But they're not getting the orders out enough there, and that they got, they got dinged for, for that. I mean, as you know, we're talking on Friday, like, their, their stock was down, you know, over 1% over the, the past month.
It's worth noting, too, that, you know, just overall, I mean, the S&P 500's, like, up one and a half percent, so, so definitely, like, we're, we're seeing, like, this, this performance that's, you know, the investors are, you know, being picky here. I mean, my, my best educated guess might just be the, you know, medtech, you know, on top of all the kind of challenges the companies in general are kind of trying to work through, like inflation, higher interest rates, supply chain, you know, that, you know, there's also in medtech just this question about the health provider customers and, you know, when, you know, when they're going to, you know, kind of work through their operational challenges. So, so I think that might, might be playing into this larger pickiness as well. But it, um, definitely seen a lot of the calls, it's, it's like they're just like, oh yeah, you know, it's, it's running, the car, car's running well, I mean, the car's doing okay, you know, it's like, all right, let's, let's get this hood up and see what's really going on here. See if we, what else you guys can do, what you all can do there to, you know, make this run even better and kind of, like, get to the kind of growth that, you know, medtech was seeing before the pandemic.
Sean, let's, uh, let's bring in some good news. I know you had a report with Dexcom, they're more than doubled their profits on 25% sales growth. The shares seem to respond. Yeah, definitely, and that's down to some next-gen technology, the G7 launch, I think, just played directly into that. Abbott, similarly, you know, their overall business was good, diabetes specifically, though, uh, FreeStyle Libre 3 and FreeStyle Libre sales in general, so that, that type of, those companies definitely performed very well. Dexcom has good news about, you know, future plans too, as far as where it wants to expand CGMs. Obviously, the Medicare decision that kicked in in April that expanded the addressable market for CGMs has contributed there. So, while I mentioned Tandem, you know, has struggled with its results, although is evidently having a turnaround on, on the market, other diabetes companies, particularly CGM makers, are performing pretty well, it seems.
The funny thing about Dexcom, Sean, though, is like over the past month now they're down, like, nearly 5%. So it's kind of like, at this, heads scratcher. I mean, the results, I mean, yeah, when I saw Dexcom results too, they were great, and, you know, like, initially, like, the markets were doing, you know, responding well, and, you know, now we're kind of just, it's like, oh, they're, they're down. You know, like Edwards Lifesciences is, you know, down, you know, over the past month. Um, you know, even, um, I mean Boston Scientific, you know, I wrote that earnings report and that was, like, really, felt, felt really, really positive, all those results from Boston Scientific, and they're down more than 4% over the past month. I mean, it's just, it just feels fickle. But, or lumpy, or cranky. Lumpy, yeah.
Hey, we got some good ones, though, there are some good, there is some bright spots, though. We can't just, like, end this, like, hit me, hit me. Well, we, a couple of bright spots, and then we had the kind of curious one that I wanted to end with, which was Intuitive, which is a company we've been, obviously, proclaiming as the, the, the, the, the undisputed leader in surgical robotics, but they had a little stumble this time around. They had a stumble, which was really, we want to get into the, into the bright spots first, and then we'll end with, keep, we'll keep people's appetite, you whet an appetite or do you wet a thirst? Wet an appetite? You wet a bombe. A soothing, yeah, yeah, yeah, provide a bombe for people's... So what are, what are a few of the bright spots, and then we'll end with Intuitive. Yeah, totally. I mean, I mean, I thought, uh, you know, Jabil, um, you know, I mean, that was, I, they, they blew past expectations, and I think that's a good, good sign, too, because they're, they're one of the largest, you know, medtech contract manufacturers in, in the world. So the fact that you're seeing, you know, contract manufacturers supporting all these companies, like, doing, you know, uh, like, so well, I, I think that's, that bodes well for, for the industry, you know, going, uh, you know, going forward, you know, and, uh, you know, could, could provide more, you know, evidence that, like, overall, like, you know, the medical device industry is kind of moving, you know, past, you know, those challenges that we saw earlier in the year. And it was, it felt good, too, to see, uh, Jabil CEO, you know, like, talking about saying that they're seeing an improving supply chain and labor environment as, as well for them. So, so I, I just, I just think that was, that was great. Um, stock went up a lot on the day they announced this, and, you know, they're still up, like, you know, nearly, you know, 4% over the, the past month with their stock, so just, that, that's just really good.
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Sean Hulley17:23
Another one is iRhythm, which has obviously faced some struggles recently with FDA warning letter and US Justice Department investigation. They're currently up 19% this morning. They were up after hours yesterday too. They had more than 20% improvement on sales, and they gave a little update on the FDA stuff, saying, well, analysts said the update was largely positive. The company received clarification on necessary labeling revisions that would allow its Zio to continue marketing as a mobile cardiac telemetry monitor. So that's one sort of success story, I would say, from the quarter, especially for a company that was seemingly facing downward for a bit.
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Tom Salami18:04
Yeah, that would be, that would be the company you'd have embattled before, or something like that. It would always carry that kind of, that kind of modifier. Well, Chris, how about, uh, let's wrap up with Intuitive. Uh, like I said, yeah, we've always kind of, we've looked at, like, J&J and Medtronic and all these other big companies going to come at it with new surgical robotic systems that'll challenge it, but perhaps there's another vulnerability that we hadn't, uh, taken into account.
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Chris Newmarker18:27
Yeah, I, I mean, you know, at this, at this point, like, Intuitive's stock's down more than 7% over the past month, and I mean, overall, I mean, it was a good, a good earnings report. They topped the consensus forecast. Uh, yeah, they had the results that, I, they, they had results that topped the consensus forecast. I mean, they, uh, they, I mean, they, at this point, they're still, you know, not, uh, sharing financial outlook for, uh, for the year, but, uh, I mean, they had a 36.7% bottom-line gain, a sales growth of 15.4%. However, uh, you know, they said that the, uh, growth rate of robotic-assisted bariatric surgeries had slowed in the US in the second quarter, and, uh, that, that was enough to, you know, to, to, you know, elicit, like, a, you know, a negative response. But that was due to, I was, that was what was really interesting, is that, you know, um, you know, analysts suggested the decline could be due to, um, these, uh, you know, new popular weight-loss drugs that, you know, are out there, that are, you know, getting touted. We got, you know, um, hope I'm pronouncing it right, but, uh, Wegovy, and then there's Ozempic, which is, uh, not approved yet for, uh, as a weight-loss drug, but because it's so related to Wegovy, there's been, you know, off-label prescribing of it, you know, for, uh, for weight loss. Uh, but, you know, these, uh, you know, these new drugs, you know, perhaps will, will be, uh, trans-, they appear to be, you know, providing a headwind for bariatric surgery procedure volumes, which, um, that, that makes sense if there's a drug people are excited about that could, uh, you know, reduce their appetite, you know, so they, uh, they, they lose weight that way, you know, uh, that, that, that could seem attractive versus, uh, you know, undergoing a surgery.
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Tom Salami20:22
Yeah, well, I think that would probably be everyone's first choice, is to take a shot, or even get an, I think some of these are injected, right? Yeah, those drugs are injected. It'll be interesting to see how things play out. I mean, good, medical device companies are, for the most part, meeting expectations. It's worth noting, we're, we're talking, I mean, I've, I've read that the August in the year before a presidential election is always weird, you know, it's, it's, and, you know, the market is generally like, like, let's just see what starts happening in the fall, you know, with, you know, with, as the campaign wraps up, and I'm sure it's like, even, uh, even weirder this time around, you know. Yeah, I was going to say this is, this is, it's, it's a weird month and an impossibly weird presidential campaign season. So, all right, good stuff, gentlemen, thanks for, uh, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good to be here.
Tom, well, Britt Milby Jensen, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, and thanks for having me join you today. Oh, my pleasure. We've talked to Ambu a few times and are familiar a bit with the story, at least on the single-use endoscope side. I know you do more, and I know that, but single-use endoscopes is your primary business, so I definitely want to get into the business of Ambu in a few minutes. But as always, we love to find out about our guests first. How did you find your way into the medical device industry?
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Britt Jensen21:44
I know, that's a very good question to start off with. So, um, I'm Danish and based in, in Denmark, where Ambu is also based, and I've spent over the past 20 years working in healthcare. And it was really after my studies. I have an economics, business degree. I went into consulting for a few years with McKinsey, and that's where I advised in multiple industries, including healthcare. And I found the healthcare industry interesting because this is where you're able to make a very visible difference for people. So I then left consulting and went into Novo Nordisk, I mean, the large Danish pharmaceutical company, where I spent over 11 years in different global commercial leadership roles, really had a great time there. And then moved into other areas in healthcare, into cancer diagnostics, later back to the drug side in a biotech company, and then I moved, um, some years back into, into medtech.
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Tom Salami22:46
Are there primary differences between what you were doing in pharma, what you're doing in medtech, or do you feel like it's similar businesses with similar missions?
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Britt Jensen22:54
I think the missions are not, I mean, depending on what space you're in, but I think the mission is not too difficult, or too different, sorry. And I also think, I mean, the whole purpose of what you do and what gets you up every day, and the rewarding part of really being close to, I mean, the people that you help, I think that goes across all the different areas of healthcare. I will say that in pharma, of course, it's very different dynamics in terms of the timelines are much longer for developing new medicines than when you move into medtech. And I think that was something I found very interesting when I moved into medtech, to the company Atos Medical where I was before I joined Ambu, was that, I mean, you have a little more flexibility to do things from the fact that the environment is less regulated, and then still, I mean, you're able to innovate and, I mean, bring products faster to market compared to pharma. So I think that more dynamic mindset, I think, or way of working, I think, is interesting.
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Tom Salami23:55
That's interesting, indeed. Looking at your background, you've been CEO of, this is your fourth CEO job, is that correct?
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Britt Jensen24:02
Yeah, it's, it's the fourth CEO role, and you can say the third if you calculate fully independent companies. I left Novo Nordisk just over 10 years ago and moved into cancer diagnostics to lead a Danish-based company, Darco, that had just been acquired by Coloplast. So I was working as part of Coloplast, and then I was there for some time and was then offered to lead a public biotech company, Zealand Pharma, which, um, was then my first, you can say, real CEO role in an independent company. Was being CEO something you had planned on or worked toward? I imagine it's always in the back of your mind being an executive in a company, but, uh, was it something that you had built into your plan? I think I've not really had a, I mean, a very clear career plan, I have to say. I think I've been driven a lot throughout my career by the opportunities that there has been, and then my focus has really been to make a difference in the jobs that I've had, and that has led to different roles. But, but I have to say, I think when I was asked about this position, to be the CEO and of a fully independent company, I thought that was very intriguing in, in many ways because I think I could use my learnings from many years in the healthcare industry and many years as a leader in a bigger organization to, to really, I mean, set the agenda and, and also the way of working and really create a company where it's about, of course, the results you create for your customers, it's about financial results, but it's also very much about the culture you have in the company and how you work. And I think that's, I mean, I'm very interested in, in leadership and also have quite strong views about how I think companies should be led and what I find effective. So being able to do, I mean, to lead that, I think, was a great honor and very rewarding.
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Tom Salami25:53
Do you have, for every company you've been CEO at, do you have sort of a set of guidelines or credo or something that you think applies equally to each company, or is each company like a different person and you need to, you need to interact with them differently?
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Britt Jensen26:06
Yeah, that's a good question, and, and I think, I mean, as a person, I'm, I'm very true to my own values, and I think I'm, I'm a very curious person. So I think in every job I, I'm in, I, I'm very curious to learn and to develop, and I think the things that you learn in one company you bring with you. But then you move to a new company, which is a new situation and, and also a new business challenge, or, or a different business challenge. And I think I, I leverage what I've learned from my past career and then bring that into a new situation, and, and then I'm very focused also that it's not only about me, but it's about the whole organization, starting with the executive leadership team. So I, I'm very focused on building a strong leadership team that collaborates well and engages well, and, and that's really where I also, I don't think, think I have the answers to everything myself, but I think it's also about having a leadership team where you then build, I mean, on the values and the heritage of the company, but also set, I mean, a joint set of values and, and way of working. So, so I would say it's, I mean, I think that's what I do, but, but very much looking at the situation that, um, the company is in and the different task that you are in to solve.
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Tom Salami27:25
Well, let's talk about your current opportunity. You were on the board of directors at Ambu prior to taking the role of CEO. Why did you take the CEO role? What were the opportunities you saw? And give it, give me a sense of where the company was when you, when you took over.
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Britt Jensen27:41
Yeah, so, so I was on the board of Ambu for around two and a half years before being the CEO, and, and at, at the same time, I, I was leading a, a Swedish-based private-equity-owned, um, medtech company, Atos Medical, and, and we sold that company to Coloplast, a successful Danish medtech company. And then I was ready to take another role, and, and in, or actually first to take a break, to really understand what I wanted to do as a next step in my career, as I had been moving very much from one opportunity to the next. Then being on the board of Ambu, I mean, we were at that time, when I was on the board, through a very exciting journey where we increased our investments a lot into the field of single-use endoscopy, and also, uh, I mean, were facing a situation where we underestimated some of the time it took for our customers to adopt a new way of working. So this was really where we were in a situation where we saw challenges with declining profitability, and, and we were not able to meet our revenue targets that we had put out to, to the street. So, so it was around that time the chairman asked if I wanted to join the company, and, and I was really, and, and continue to be very excited about the potential we have as a company, having really proven that we are able to move into a new area and change the paradigm, working closely with our customers. So, so I thought that was an interesting opportunity, and that we had only just gotten started, so there was a lot more potential. And then I could also see that some of my experience fitted very well into some of the challenges that we had, also, I mean, both in terms of getting the financial situation back on, on track, as well as also getting investor credibility back, which had, of course, suffered as we were not delivering on our own promises. So I think this was some of the things that attracted me. But first and foremost, I think when you're in this industry, I think most people are very focused on the difference you make for the customers, and, and also the ability you're able to continue to do that better. So, so I think that was what I, I was really intrigued by, and, and our product portfolio that we had invested a lot in the recent years and really advanced our portfolio to be very strong.
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Tom Salami30:03
So let's talk about, about the company a bit. I know primarily as a single-use endoscope business, and you're, I think, the largest provider of that in the world, and we can get into that in a moment. But give me, if you would, just an overview of Ambu. Is there, is there much more to the story than that? What, what am I missing, if anything?
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Britt Jensen30:18
Yeah, no, that's a good question. So we're actually a company that were founded in 1937 here in, in Denmark, where we still, um, have our headquarters. So we are a company with a strong legacy and really rooted in developing innovative solutions together with our customers that have been groundbreaking. The first areas we were in were anesthesia, where one of the first inventions we had was the Ambu bag that is still widely used in hospitals around the world. So that was, at that time, the world's first self-inflating ventilation bag, and, and really an important step at the time. That's, that's the iconic mask over your mouth, squeezing the bag to get air out, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So, so that, I mean, it has been changed a bit, but this was launched some 60 years ago, so that's actually fascinating how we're still very well known for that today. Then we were the first to make a, to develop a single-use endoscope, that we launched a bronchoscope back in 2009, and that was really where that whole growth journey started on the single-use endoscopy. Today we have just over half of our revenue is in single-use endoscopy, and then the other, also with slower growth, part of the business is the anesthesia and patient monitoring. But since then, I mean, it took a number of years, and it was really only the third generation where we started to see very strong traction with our bronchoscope. And then since then, I mean, today we are, um, we are leading in single-use endoscopy. And in the past couple of years we then expanded into new areas, only in the past four or five years, into ENT, urology, and, and GI, so segments where we're really building on the strong technology platform and understanding we have of single-use endoscopy, but addressing customers that have very different needs. So, so that has been an exciting journey that we have been on in, in really working with customers, for example, in the field of urology, where nobody knew who Ambu was four years ago, and today we are very well known and see high growth. So I think the, the way that we have been really driven by our innovation and new technology expanding into new therapy areas has been very interesting, and, and that's also, you can say, when we look ahead, where our focus is. That we have, compared to many other companies in a short period of time, expanded into a number of new customer segments with our new zoom-in strategy, it's all about really focus and execution. So our, so right now doing, making sure that we really focus in on all the segments that we're in to do a good job, and then also focus on how we execute, because we have had a couple of years where things have really moved fast.
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Tom Salami33:12
I don't know if you said this or not, but you said, so 2009 was when you came out with the first single-use scope. Were you the first to come out with it, or were there others out as well?
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Britt Jensen33:20
Yeah, we were the first, and we have for many years been alone in the field. So we were the first to come out with a single-use endoscope, this was a bronchoscope. Where you can say, in, in the past couple of years we have seen a number of new companies entering the field. And, and I think that's, I mean, only as expected as you develop a new category and you're successful establishing that, that does attract the competition. And I'd also say, if we look at the overall endoscopy market, so worldwide there are around 200 million annual procedures using an endoscope. And if we look at the markets that, I mean, that, that we're focusing on, it's around 100 million. And, and of those, it's around two and a half million, roughly, procedures that are done with a single-use endoscope, either with one of ours, and that's the most part, or one of the other players. And, and that's, of course, also demonstrating how the potential to expand further is huge.
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Tom Salami34:19
I know you weren't with the company at the time, but I'm sure you've got the institutional memory of that. That's a pretty bold step to go single-use. I mean, intuitive, it seems like a natural step. Talking with someone recently about when he was a child in the '40s, he talked about reusable needles and syringes, and you hear that now, you're like, ah, I can't believe they reused those. I don't know if we'll ever get that with scopes, but do you know what were the pain points that led Ambu to develop that concept? Have those pain points, have they gotten better, they gotten worse? What, what does it look like going forward? But let's go back to the beginning. Do you have a sense of what led to that, that innovation?
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Britt Jensen34:55
Yeah, so, I mean, we were leading in and very close to customers in, in anesthesia and in the ICU department. So that was really where that came from, our other portfolio. And that we then, I mean, the customers were looking for a solution that they would have ready at hand when a patient came in. So that was really how it started. And then you can say, then our products have become much more advanced and sophisticated ever since then. There has been a number of things driving this, and I think it is a little bit different today, and also it's even slightly different when you look at the different segments that, that we are in. But this is, I mean, a lot about the, I mean, there's something around the, in, focus on infections through the scope that has driven the conversion to single-use in some segments. But, but otherwise what we see today in the hospitals, it's very much, I mean, the fact that with reusable scopes you need to wait for a scope, you cannot be sure that there's a scope available when you need it, because it can either be used or being reprocessed or repaired. And, and then there is also, I mean, clear evidence that there's, I mean, that leads then to rescheduling or cancelling of appointments, which is not, you can say, ideal when you have a patient in a sometimes life-threatening situation where a scope is required but not, not available. So, so it's really where you can say our focus is to make sure that we can then change that paradigm for customers by not having to wait to clean and so on, and then so, so they have an opportunity to treat more patients. And then also today where, I mean, many hospitals are, are challenged by not having sufficient staff, I mean, you don't have, need to have people on call to clean the scope. So, so that's something that we see create a better workflow and, and flexibility. And then there's the whole economics around that for some departments seeing that, I mean, you don't have, have to invest in a lot of capital equipment, it's a much simpler setup.
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Tom Salami37:04
Do you have, I, I suppose the other, the other aspect is also the, the sterilization process, the concerns over the environmental ramifications of sterilization that we're becoming more and more aware of. Is, is that playing into things as well? Because I mean, it just, on one hand, you could see the reusable thing creating a new waste stream that wasn't there previously. The other hand, if you're offsetting that, the impact of that by not using chemicals that have been found to be, well, dangerous. I don't know if it offsets that or if there's one clear benefit or another. How do you, does the environmental aspect play into your strategy as well?
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Britt Jensen37:35
Yeah, it, it does play into our strategy a lot, and, and it's, it's one of the key parameters in our strategy is sustainability. And, and I mean, also being a Scandinavian company, we have a, I mean, we have a strong focus here. And I'd say, I mean, we, we have invested a lot in sustainability over the past couple of years, and we, we do have, in multiple of the sustainability indices, we, we rank quite high, and, and higher than, for example, in, we have an AA rating in the MSCI, which is one of the key, uh, ratings. So this we are happy with, but we really also very focused on the fact that we are a single-use company, that we continue to do a better job with the material that we use, the packaging, how we transport our products, and, and then more and more of our customers are being focused on this and doing studies where they also show that this is actually in some cases either it's the same or even better than using a reusable for, for some of the reasons that you just mentioned around the whole use of chemicals for the reprocessing, and also if you then also count in some of the logistics and transport around repairs and, and so on. So, so there's definitely a, for us, a strong focus on sustainability, and, and that we continue to be very focused on, so we can still provide single-use products, um, in a way that is more sustainable.
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Tom Salami39:02
How is it being the, the market leader in this space? What are the benefits of that? And, and you're, and you're getting competition, of course, from larger companies, but some smaller startups as well, of developing their own technology. How are you differentiating yourselves? Or how do your sales teams differentiate your products from, from others? Is it price, is it functionality? I imagine it's a combination of both, but what's the strategy there?
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Britt Jensen39:25
Yeah, so, so I mean, we, we were the first in, in the single-use endoscopy field and are still, uh, the world leaders in single-use endoscopy. So, so that's, of course, I mean, that has been an exciting journey, and also because we have been out creating a market and opening our, I mean, customers' eyes to the great benefits in, in the new ways of working that, that comes with that, and having new routines and better routines in, in the hospitals. So I think this whole pioneering role that has been interesting and also has been a way to work very close with the customers. Although you can say in some areas, I mean, things have not moved as fast as we have looked to. So, so we have in many ways paved the way, I would say, for a paradigm shift, and that of course, as we talked about before, that leads them to competition. And, and I think in many ways, I mean, we, we do have great companies out there that are also coming out with new, great products, and, and, and then you can say our, I mean, the benefit we have from being in this field for a long time is, of course, we have been able to create scale in, in the way that we operate. But we have also been able to really get close to our customers, really understanding their needs, and understanding how you sell single-use endoscopes and, and build relationships in, in different areas. But of course also, you can say, a challenge is, of course, that building relationships takes time, and, and that's as we have moved into a number of new segments, that is still something that is a strong focus for us in, in some of the, the new segments. But I think it is, for a company like Ambu, that is, with our size, I think it's, it's good for us to have more companies with single-use endoscopes that can help bring attention to the benefits for our customers. There, so I'm saying, overall, I think it's, it's great to see that other companies are seeing the potential here.
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Tom Salami41:26
And final question, where do you see growth for the future for Ambu? Is it doubling down on single-use endoscopes, expanding the portfolio of this, or is it moving into adjacent or even un-adjacent markets? How, how does the future look? I know you're a publicly traded company, so you're not going to give me all the state secrets, but, uh, broadly, the broad guidelines, what are you looking at?
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Britt Jensen41:46
Yeah, but, but I, I would say our focus is very much and has, I mean, since we were founded, been to be close to the customers and understanding their real needs, and that is what we will continue to do and, and have that focus as we innovate. Then, then I'd say, as we talked about, in the past couple of years we have invested a lot in innovation. So if we look at the future, we still have a very exciting portfolio and continue to be able to invest, having a more focused approach and, and really making sure that we can be out there with our, our customers in the segments that we're in now and then gradually expand our portfolio to fulfill their needs. That's very much our focus. We are investing significantly more in the endoscopy field compared to anesthesia and patient monitoring, which are really areas where, in general, I mean, we, we have a lot of colleagues who focus there and, and we continue to also improve our offering there. But, but there's more innovation happening in the endoscopy field, and that's also where our main focus is when it comes to investing in new innovation.
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Tom Salami42:52
If I were given the opportunity to walk through your, your R&D labs and see what's coming up in five or 10 years, is it mind-blowing? Or are you merely, like, improving the imaging and just going to be more, just kind of better of what you currently do? Or do you anticipate someday being able to do things that you cannot currently do with a single-use endoscope?
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Britt Jensen43:11
I think we, I mean, based on, on the offering we have and the difference we make for our customers, I mean, we, we continue to challenge ourselves understanding the customers' needs and come out with new and greater things, and that's what I also think we should. And, and also as technology is, is developing rapidly, I mean, that's has, of course, been, if we look at where we are now compared to when we started in the single-use endoscopy, it's clear that some of the new technologies are bringing opportunities that we are also looking into and, and focusing on. So, so I think we have great opportunities and, and a strong platform to build on, and that we should be able to fulfill customer needs and help our customers for many years to come.
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Tom Salami43:53
Fantastic. Well, Britt Milby Jensen, it was a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thanks for joining us.
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Britt Jensen44:01
And thanks for the opportunity.
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Tom Salami44:04
All right, well, that is a wrap. Chris Newmarker, you're out there in social media land, where can folks find you?
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Chris Newmarker44:10
Hey, just find me on LinkedIn. Chris Newmarker, like a Newmarker.
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Tom Salami44:13
Sean Hulley, where are you? And, and take a moment, please, to plug your fabulous Fast Five podcast.
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Sean Hulley44:19
Happy to. First, you can find me on LinkedIn, Sean, S-E-A-N, Hulley, W-O-O-L-E-Y. And, yeah, please tune in to the Fast Five, four episodes a week. They release Tuesday through Friday every morning. Myself and Senior Editor Danielle Kers discuss the news of the day, basically. We pick five stories, break down a few of the important details from them, you know, what, what you can take away from them. And they range from the earnings stories to regulatory to everything in between. So plenty to break down. It's a nice little quick, quick jolt for your community, learning about the news of the day, and it encourages you to learn more on Mass Device if you so choose.
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Tom Salami45:03
So you guys don't, you don't horse around like we do here. You are, you are professionals. You are like in and out. You don't waste anybody's time. Uh, how is, how is putting that together kind of helped you as a reporter? I have to imagine, like, just to put the hour or two into formulating your thoughts, reporting your stories, having things to talk about, must, is it, is it kind of solidifying your, your analysis, your takes on the medical device industry?
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Sean Hulley45:31
It's definitely allowing me to form more of an understanding about why things happened and how, how they sort of play out. And it's also, you know, sometimes you get so lost in trying to just achieve or accomplish what you need to accomplish for the day that, you know, I might miss one of Chris's earnings stories or something like that. And so, having to actually go back and read our website, it's becoming quite informative when I, you know, occasionally miss some things. And I'm not afraid, not ashamed to admit that I do miss some things. So learning more, for sure.
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Tom Salami46:05
There's a lot of news up there, for sure. All right, well, I'm on LinkedIn, Tom Salami, please, uh, connect with me, please. What do you want folks to do with this podcast and with Fast Five? Chris, you gotta, like, follow, subscribe. That's right. You gotta, like, follow and subscribe to the Device Talks Podcast Network to get Device Talks Weekly, Intuitive Talks, Boston Scientific Talks, Abbott Talks, Stryker Talks, and you have to subscribe separately to get Fast Five. But we're both on the, uh, on every podcast application. And, uh, yeah, so you, you can get many different types of, uh, great medtech analysis, uh, through podcasts. So do that, please. Uh, share this episode on social media, connect with Sean, Chris, and myself, so we can be part of that conversation. And, uh, please follow, uh, like, follow or subscribe the, our LinkedIn groups, Mass Device's page, Device Talks page. We've got lots of great content up there, uh, sends it right to your, your feed, so we don't miss a story, uh, because, as Sean indicated, morass of, of content. And I, and I'd just say, like, if you're really busy, I mean, um, you know, Sean and, and Danielle, they are doing just like this, this fantastic job just, you know, like, you know, just, just getting in there and out, and, you know, just like, bang, bang, bang, here's the top, top news that's been on, you know, Mass Device over the past 24 hours. So, I mean, you just, you can just, like, you know, play that on the, on the, on the drive to the office, or running on the treadmill, you know, on the gym, or, you know, the Peloton at home, whatnot, you know, just, uh, or play it on a loop and just listen to it the entire time you're sleeping and it'll just get absorbed into your brain and you'll just be a medtech automaton. The, the smooth jazz rhythms of that opener that Danielle picked for that is a damn catchy tune, dude. I've had that in my head more than once. I'm like, damn, that podcast, I, got a pep in my step because of that damn podcast. That's all we aspire to do. That's all we aspire to do. You're doing a great job.
That's right. And, uh, finally, of course, Device Talks West is happening October 18th and 19th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. We'll be talking to a lot of these companies. We'll be talking with Dave Rosa, the new president of Intuitive, and we'll certainly ask about, uh, the pressures coming from the bariatric surgery drugs, the, the weight-loss drugs, the impact that's having on bariatric surgery. But we'll have Abbott there, many of the companies we've talked to today will be there as well, talking about different things but important things. So go to devicetalks.com to find our podcasts and to, uh, make sure you register for the Device Talks West event, again, October 18th and 19th in Santa Clara. And you need to register within the next couple of weeks to take advantage of our ridiculously generous early bird rate and attend this fantastic two-day conference for only, for less than $400, for $395. I know, right? Wow, it's unheard of. This is like 1998 prices. It's a steal. It's insane. We are insane, crazy Tom Salami, giving you medical device content for low, low prices. Insane in the membrane. All right, everybody, thanks for joining us on this episode of the Device Talks Weekly podcast. Thanks, guys. Hey, enjoy the summer, everybody. Stay, stay frosty. Just a few weeks away.