Baxter International Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 27, 2022

Key Takeaways

  • Third quarter sales were $3.8 billion, up 17% on a reported basis (23% constant currency) but flat operationally, and adjusted EPS of $0.82 hit the high end of prior guidance.
  • Significant inflationary pressures and global supply-chain constraints—particularly semiconductors—created a sales headwind of over $100 million (~400 bps) and raised costs for raw materials, freight and labor.
  • Baxter took a goodwill impairment charge on the Hillrom acquisition due to higher interest rates, lower valuation multiples and supply-chain cost pressures, yet integration synergies are tracking ahead of plan and demand remains strong.
  • The company updated its full-year 2022 guidance to 17–18% reported sales growth (23% cc) with adjusted EPS of $3.53–3.60, and expects select supply constraints to persist into 2023.
  • Baxter is driving long-term value through ongoing portfolio optimization, customer pricing agreements and Connected Care innovations, with more details on strategic reviews due in early 2023.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Baxter International Q3 2022
00:00 / 00:00

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Baxter International's Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Your lines will remain in a listen only mode until the question and answer segment of today's call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded by Baxter and is copyrighted material. It cannot be recorded or rerecorded or rebroadcast without Baxter's permission. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time.

Operator

I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Claire Trachtman, Vice President, Investor Relations at Baxter International, Ms. Trachtman, you may begin.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and welcome to our Q3 2022 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Joel Mehta, Baxter's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Jay Zaccaro, Baxter's Chief Financial Officer. On the call this morning, we will be discussing Baxter's 3rd quarter 2022 financial results and full year financial outlook for 2022. With that, let me start our prepared remarks By reminding everyone that this presentation, including comments regarding our financial outlook for the Q4 and full year 2022, Our 2022 to 2025 long range plan, the acquisition of Tilrayum, new product development, The potential impact of proposed pricing actions, business development, portfolio optimization and regulatory matters contain forward looking statements that involve risks And of course, our actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Please refer to today's press release and our SEC filings for more detail concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially.

Speaker 1

In addition, on today's call, Non GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand Baxter's ongoing business performance. A reconciliation of the non GAAP financial measures being discussed today. To the comparable GAAP financial measures is included in our earnings release issued this morning and available on our website. On the call this morning, we will be discussing operational sales growth, which adjusts for the impact of foreign exchange and the acquisition of Hill Rom. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Joe.

Speaker 2

Joe? Thank you, Claire, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining today's call. I will start with a look at our Q3 performance, including some perspective on the macro environmental factors impacting our near term trajectory. Jay will provide a deeper dive on our financials and outlook after which we will open up the lines for your questions.

Speaker 2

Q3 2022 represents the 3rd full quarter since the close of our Hurom acquisition. Total company sales of $3,800,000,000 grew 17% on a reported basis and 23% at a constant currency rates. Legacy Hurom contributed $735,000,000 to sales in the 3rd quarter. Excluding the impact of Eurom and foreign exchange, 3rd quarter sales rose slightly on an operational basis. On the bottom line, 3rd quarter adjusted Earnings per share of $0.82 were the higher end of the guidance range we had provided previously.

Speaker 2

Both top line and bottom line Performance in the quarter reflected the continued impact of macroeconomic headwinds, including significant inflationary pressures as well as ongoing global supply chain concerns consistent with what many others are encountering globally. With further regard to the macroeconomic environment, I'll note the impairment charge in our Q3 financials related to the Huron acquisition. Jay will provide additional details, but in short, This charge relates to many of the shifting market dynamics, including rising interest rates And lower valuation multiples that have reduced equity values broadly along with the increased supply chain related costs that we've previously discussed. With that said and with 10 months of progress in perspective, I want to underline our continuing confidence in the potential of the Hurom acquisition. This is already Geographically and across the continuum of care, it is also accelerating our connected care journey, Expanding our digital footprint and helping to unlock the next wave of innovation across our R and D pipeline.

Speaker 2

Integration of our legacy organization is advancing swiftly. And as previously shared, we are achieving even greater value capture through cost synergies than initially anticipated. Additionally, overall demand across the Baxter and Legacy Heeran portfolios remain solid, but we continue To experience meaningful backorders and backlogs due to reduced access to a variety of raw materials In electromechanical components, as I have shared previously, this has resulted not only in higher cost Spot purchases, but also expedited freight costs as we work steadfastly to get our life sustaining products to the patients and clinicians who depend on us. While we see signals that some of these macro factors may begin to ease next year, Our current expectation is that select supply constraints will persist into 2023, particularly as it relates to semiconductors where we continue to see high levels of volatility in supply. During the quarter, we experienced several key commits from various suppliers meaningfully impacting our overall demand planning process.

Speaker 2

We have also seen supply constraints from other raw materials, which has further impacted performance. In total, we estimate The semiconductor and raw material constraints we've experienced negatively impacted Baxter's top line performance in the quarter by more then $100,000,000 or approximately 400 basis points. And on a year to date basis, we estimate this figure to help mitigate these constraints and position the company for improved future performance. Some of the actions we've already undertaken include Extending the horizon of our demand forecast out to 24 months for supply constrained categories to allow our suppliers to allocate capacity and inventory to Baxter over a long horizon, validating alternate supply options to provide With the management teams of our key suppliers and select government officials to enforce the criticality of Baxter's products. We are confident that these factors will further enhance our ability to help mitigate supply chain Several initiatives that are expected to drive improved future performance, including ensuring that we have the optimal organizational structure and business These actions include a recent restructuring initiative, broad hiring freeze, reduced discretionary spending and accelerating our Huron integration efforts.

Speaker 2

Additionally, we do expect to realize savings This year through lower annual employee incentive bonuses, which are directly tied to business performance. Also as mentioned Last quarter, we have already passed on a portion of the incremental costs we've absorbed to our customers and are collaborating with them to finalize agreements, which include revised pricing terms to address continued cost pressures. We deeply believe that we can manage these relationships and appreciate upon successful execution and implementation of these agreements, We anticipate the related revenues will be reflected in our results next year. We believe these actions will help underscore our unwavering Commitment to our patients and customers. Collectively, these initiatives are fueled by the sustained Emphasis on operational efficiency and cost based optimization that has powered our transformation to date.

Speaker 2

And as I will continue to stress, We'll never pursue any action that compromises our fundamental mission to save and sustain lives. We are also actively advancing our strategic review of the portfolio to ensure the optimal structure to execute on our vision of transforming healthcare to improve patient outcomes, enhance workflow efficiency and enable cost effective care. We anticipate that we will be in a position to provide more details On these ongoing activities early next year, I want to reiterate that our strategic core and prospects remain firm As is our commitment to driving long term value for our shareholders and the many other stakeholders we serve. Baxter's strength is founded on our diverse durable portfolio of essential healthcare products, which will continue to be enhanced Our focus on driving innovation in connected care and core therapies. VEGS's industry leadership and increased scale combined with our rapidly Advancing digital capabilities create a spectrum of prospects to help advance our impact in line with our life saving mission and in turn to share our success with our shareholders and other stakeholder communities.

Speaker 2

Finally, I want to recognize and thank our employees for their remarkable effort always and especially as we navigate the current macro environment. Our global team consistently embraces our lifesaving mission above all, rising to meet each new challenge with dedication, passion and a team focused on serving many stakeholders who depend on us. Now Jay will provide more details on our Q3 performance and outlook for the remainder of the year.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Joe, and good morning, everyone. As Joe mentioned, Our results for the quarter came in largely as expected with some impact to sales due to select supply chain related constraints. As discussed earlier, our teams have been and continue to identify opportunities to help mitigate the unprecedented macroeconomic headwinds we continue to face And we remain committed to delivering on our long term objectives. Turning to our financial performance, Q3 2022 global sales of $3,800,000,000 advanced 17% on a reported basis, 23% on a constant currency basis and rose slightly on an operational basis. On the bottom line, adjusted earnings decreased 20% to $0.82 per share Falling within our guidance range of $0.79 to $0.83 per share, earnings in the quarter reflect the increased costs of raw materials, freight In labor, as well as the impact of rising interest rates, foreign exchange headwinds and a higher tax rate.

Speaker 3

Before I review our financial performance for the quarter, I wanted to spend a moment discussing the non cash Impairment charge that we recorded related to the Hill Rom acquisition. When we purchased Hill Rom, we valued the business Based on anticipated cash flows, Baxter's prevailing cost of capital and market EBITDA multiples at the time of the transaction. As Joe mentioned, the primary reason for the write down was due to changes in external factors that have occurred since the acquisition date, Specifically, the significant increase in interest rates we've seen and the reduction in market based EBITDA multiples. As we evaluated these environmental factors and coupled them with the supply chain impacts we've incurred, which we carry forward in our projections. We deemed it appropriate to reduce the carrying value of goodwill And certain other intangible assets associated with Hill Rom.

Speaker 3

I want to reinforce Joe's earlier comments That we continue to see tremendous potential for our combined portfolios. We have accelerated our cost synergy targets, which continue to track ahead of our expectations and our commercial leaders are driving actions to unlock the growth of the combined company. Now, I'll walk through performance by our regional segments and key product categories. Note That constant currency growth is equal to operational sales growth for all global businesses and Baxter's 3 legacy geographic regions. Starting with sales by operating segment, sales in the Americas were flat to the prior year on a constant currency basis.

Speaker 3

Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa grew 3% on a constant currency basis and sales in our APAC region decreased 2% On a constant currency basis, quarterly sales in that region reflected a slowdown in growth in China due to the country's 0 COVID policy, which we estimate impacted sales by approximately $10,000,000 in the quarter as well as the anticipated impact from various Value based procurement initiatives being implemented in the region. Moving on to performance by key product category, Global sales for Renal Care were $942,000,000 increasing 4% on a constant currency basis. Performance in the quarter was driven by solid growth in our PD business, where we observed an increase in PD patients globally. PD Growth was augmented by 2 discrete items totaling approximately $20,000,000 Performance in the quarter partially offset by lower in center HD sales, partially due to HD monitor supply challenges due to component availability. Sales in medication delivery of $725,000,000 were similar level to prior year sales on a constant currency basis.

Speaker 3

Within the quarter, we observed strong demand for products in our IV therapy portfolio. This growth was more than offset by lower infusion system sales As component availability remain challenged coupled with a large hospital system order in Q3 2021, which created this Difficult comparator to the prior year. Pharmaceutical sales of $525,000,000 declined 3% on a constant currency basis. Performance in the quarter reflects declines in our global generic injectables portfolio due to continued increased competitive activity, which were partially offset by increased sales of inhaled anesthesia globally. Moving to Clinical Nutrition, Total sales were $231,000,000 increasing 4% on a constant currency basis.

Speaker 3

Performance in the quarter was driven by demand for our broad multi chamber product Offering partially offset by supply related challenges for our vitamins. Sales in Advanced Surgery were $247,000,000 Advancing 6% on a constant currency basis, growth in the quarter reflects While procedures in the U. S. And APAC region came in slightly below our expectations, within the U. S.

Speaker 3

We observed a slow start to July with an uptick in August In September, sales in our Acute Therapies business were $158,000,000 declining 9% on a constant currency basis and reflecting Biopharma Solutions sales in the quarter were $172,000,000 declining 10% on a constant currency basis and reflecting a step down in Compared to the same period last year, COVID vaccine sales for the quarter were $235,000,000 which included $380,000,000 of the company's $27,900,000 of Frontline Care

Speaker 2

and $76,000,000 of sales in

Speaker 3

Global Surgical Solutions. Hill Rom's Performance in the quarter reflects the difficult comparison to the prior year period As well as the impact of the semiconductor supply constraints we've discussed, we continue to experience record levels of backlog Our order book remains strong and to date we have not seen any significant cancellations from customers. As mentioned last quarter, we remain somewhat cautious on capital spending as hospitals continue to assess their budgets in light of the current market environment. Moving to the rest of the P and L, our adjusted gross margin of 42.9% decreased by 110 basis points over the prior year, reflecting increased cost of goods sold primarily driven by the factors we've discussed around inflation, freight and supply chain constraints. Adjusted SG and A of $821,000,000 represented $21,800,000 as a percentage of sales, an increase of 200 basis points versus prior year, driven by the addition of Hill Rom as well as higher freight expenses.

Speaker 3

As mentioned earlier, we continue to tightly manage our G and A base. Adjusted R and D spend in the quarter of $148,000,000 represented 3.9 as a percentage of sales, a decrease of 10 basis points versus prior year. Both adjusted SG and A and adjusted R and D reflect a benefit from lower bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans, which is directly tied to Baxter's performance. These factors resulted in an adjusted operating margin in the quarter of 17.2%, a decrease of 300 basis points versus the prior year. Adjusted net interest expense totaled $104,000,000 quarter an increase of $72,000,000 versus the prior year, driven by higher outstanding debt balances related to the acquisition of Hill Rom.

Speaker 3

Adjusted other non operating income totaled $2,000,000 in the quarter compared to a $12,000,000 loss in the prior year period, driven primarily by amortization of pension benefits. The adjusted tax rate in the quarter was 23.8% as compared to 14.8% in the prior year period. The year over year increase was primarily due to the mix of earnings in the quarter, which has changed following the Hill Rom acquisition. In addition, during the Q3 of 2021, the company recognized a benefit in its effective tax rate from a discrete item due to a reserve release resulting from a favorable tax ruling. And as previously mentioned, adjusted earnings of 0.8 percent per diluted share declined 20% versus the prior period.

Speaker 3

Let me conclude my comments by discussing our outlook for the Q4 full year 2022 including some key assumptions underpinning our updated guidance. We have adjusted our full year earnings per share outlook primarily to account for strengthening U. S. Dollar and the resulting foreign exchange headwind, Increased interest expense assumptions given rising interest rates and a higher expected full year tax rate due to earnings mix. As discussed, we anticipate electromechanical component availability will remain challenged in the Q4 and into 2023, which will continue to hamper sales growth for select businesses, including medication delivery, frontline care and patient support systems.

Speaker 3

For the Q4 of 2022, we expect global sales growth of mid to high single digits on a reported basis, Mid teens on a constant currency basis and approximately flat on an operational basis and we expect adjusted earnings excluding special items of $0.92 to $0.99 per diluted share. For full year 2022, we now expect Global sales growth of 17% to 18% on a reported basis, approximately 23% on a constant currency basis and low single digits Operationally, moving down the P and L, we expect full year adjusted operating margin to be between 17% 17.5%, reflecting the impact of all of the various dynamics we've discussed today. For the year, we now expect interest expense to total approximately $400,000,000 Given rate increases and adjusted tax rate of approximately 20% and a diluted share count of 508,000,000 shares, Based on these factors, we now expect 2022 adjusted earnings excluding special items of $3.53 to $3.60 for diluted share. With that, we can now open up the call for Q and A.

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. We appreciate everyone's patience and would like to provide as many of you as possible the opportunity to ask a question. We will pause for a moment while the list is being compiled. I would like to remind participants that this call is being recorded and a digital replay will be available on the Baxter International website for 60 days at www.vaxxure.com.

Operator

Sure.com. Our first question comes from the line of Travis Steed of Bank of America Securities. Your question please.

Speaker 4

Hi, good morning everybody. Thanks for taking the question. I guess, Jay, just to start out, bridging the gap and the changes of the 2022 guidance, but would be helpful. But more importantly, We'd love to see if you would provide some initial thoughts on 2023, if you'd connect to some level of earnings growth off the 360, for next year and so 75 basis points of margin expansion is the floor?

Speaker 3

Sure. Travis, I missed the first part of the question.

Speaker 1

So 2022 for it's For the EPS guidance.

Speaker 3

Great. So yes, let's walk through the different pieces. I think all of these are starting to set up well for 2023, but

Speaker 2

it starts with the

Speaker 3

Q3. Overall, Q3 came in largely in line with our expectations. We were pleased to put $0.82 in the books and really the commercial operations were off a couple of cents in large part related to Shortfalls in sales driven by supply

Speaker 2

and price

Speaker 3

in certain areas. The tax rate and FX came in a little bit worse than our expectations, but offsetting this, and I think this is important to note, Was better than anticipated performance in our supply chain. As you know, this has been an area of extreme volatility for us As we've navigated the complicated macro environment, so it was really nice to see our supply chain team deliver in the quarter and set the stage for the 4th And beyond. Now as we go to Q4, with respect to EPS, we now expect roughly a $0.05 headwind From foreign exchange, tax and interest relative to our previously issued guidance. And so we expect to imply constrained environment carefully, But overall, the real driver in the Q4 relates to this headwind from these non operational items.

Speaker 3

So now as we transition to next year, what I've previously shared with you all is a template which says 4% to 5 compounded sales growth, minimum 75 basis points of operating margin expansion in a given year. As we thought about 2023, the sales growth will come in on the lower end of the range closer to 4%, In large part because of lower levels of COVID vaccines emanating from our BPS business. But as it relates to margin through continued focus on costs, through execution of our Hillron synergies, Along with a real and significant impact of value improvement programs in our plants, we can confirm at this point the 75 basis This point is a margin expansion. Now of course, we're going through our plan as we speak. And I will tell you that the world has been extremely volatile, but it's very nice to And a lot of this comes down to stability coming out of our supply chain organization.

Speaker 3

Now the one thing I will say is part of the reason we're not seeing accelerated sales growth is as we look at 2023, There are continued headwinds from a supply constraint standpoint. So we're going to expect to see Component challenges through parts of 2023 and other areas. And so that's from a supply and semiconductors We have been with for a while. We're hoping that we can build table next year for the quarter in 2024. Now, I'll

Speaker 2

give you some

Speaker 3

other guidance. As we look at foreign exchange, That's going to be fairly neutral to operating margin, but it will be a roughly $0.15 headwind year over year and a lot of that will be In the first half of the year, because we've seen rates really deteriorate in Q3 and Q4. And then from an interest We're looking at approximately a $0.15 headwind. So this is a before that and the interest rate will start to become a tailwind Later on in this long range plan. And so I think for us, as we sit here today, we feel really good about the prospects going into 20 23.

Speaker 3

And so we've been dealing with a lot of volatility and I think really putting controls in place to navigate some of that. I think our ability to confirm 2023 is an important step as we move forward. Joe, I don't know if you'd want to add anything to that.

Speaker 2

No, I think we'll cover it all. Thanks, Travis.

Speaker 4

Yes. Thanks, Kevin. A quick follow-up just to make sure, I think putting that all together, it still sounds like earnings can be up next year versus 2022. And on the 75 basis points, what does that assume on the $1,000,000,000 inflation? Does it assume that's stable and does it assume no NOIQ?

Speaker 3

So as it relates to EPS, I think there's a little bit of EPS growth as we look at it Some of the non operational items impacting us, but we do expect some level as we look at it. And then I'm sorry, I missed the second part of your question. I couldn't quite hear that.

Speaker 4

No. The sum of basis points, what's assumed and not on inflation in the middle of my queue?

Speaker 3

Okay. So from an inflationary standpoint, I think we're looking at kind of consistent levels So today, we're not anticipating significant price up in any commodities. We're anticipating some slight improvement in certain areas, But also some negative, for example, in Europe. Joe, you want to address that?

Speaker 2

I will. So We always preface any conversation on products which are not approved that we do not speak on behalf of the FDA. We believe that we have successfully resolved the issue that was the primary subject of the FDA's last additional Information request, we referenced this issue on the Q2 call. We will submit data that we believe demonstrates successful With the FDA, we're in process of updating our response and because of that, we're doing everything we can to submit our response as quickly as possible. While we hope that To be in a position to submit those responses by late Q4, it may spill over into a couple Weeks of January, maybe half January.

Speaker 2

So we are doing the best we can to pull this together. We are very comprehensive in how we answer the FDA. We work very collaboratively with them and we want to make sure that the product has all the information before we sent to them, so there's no further request for information. That's our objective.

Speaker 4

Really helpful color. Thanks a lot for taking the question.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Robbie Marcus of JPMorgan is on the line with a question. Please state your question.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks. Maybe I could start off on Capital allocation, how you're thinking about the business mix. We saw some reports in the news about potential sales or divestitures of some of the assets Then, renal that were low to no growth and low to negative margin. Maybe just give us a sense of how you're thinking about your Portfolio here and the environment to get deals done, whether it's additive or subtraction?

Speaker 2

Robbie, good morning. We are actively looking first of all, I'm not going to comment on the boomers from the market, But I'm going to tell you what we are doing. We are actively looking at portfolio by the company. We will be Ready to speak about that by early January, not at the moment. But I can tell you some Bits of information, what is going on.

Speaker 2

We are looking at every opportunity in the company to focus on the vision that we have set forth During our Investor Day back in May, which is Connected Care, the areas that will drive higher gross margin, Areas of higher top line growth, software and the ability to be ahead of Connecting the bots for clinicians and institutions. So when we look at that, we look in our portfolio, some products will make For us to retain, some products will not. So we are looking to optimize our portfolio. We are about 3 Quarter is off the way there in terms of understanding and we will make a decision with our Board of Directors and then come forward with what we think Going to be the new portfolio of Baxter going forward, as I said, early January. So I want to just also underscore that any portfolio movement, which implies Sale of assets or any kind of transaction always, always takes into account number 1, Creation of shareholder value is never secondary.

Speaker 2

Never secondary is always primary, and that is Creation of improved return on invested capital with accretion of value through Cash flows. So we're going to be able to have the new set of businesses going forward And what we're going to see with them and how we're going to suffice our mission and vision, as I said, early January.

Speaker 5

Great. Maybe just as a follow-up. Jay, you talked about something like $100,000,000 in, I guess, theoretical lost sales in the quarter from supply chain issues, but also about how the supply chain was a positive in the quarter and helped on margins. How should we think about those 2 reconciling next year? And in that 4% growth in the 75 bps of margin, how should we

Speaker 2

Robbie, I'll let Jay really comment on the numbers. I'll tell you about a couple aspects. While we are seeing supply chain is performing well against a very difficult Set up circumstances, as we said, labor inflation and material inflation have been significant to Baxter And they're doing a great job navigating through that. Our procurement group is doing a heroic job getting the products to us. What is happening is There is a significant amount of backlog and backorder for the company on products depending on semiconductors.

Speaker 2

And it's not one company or 2, it's several. It's a plethora of companies that produce products for us and we source semiconductors from them. What Couple of things that we are doing that I feel more confident that throughout 2023, the situation Will be more will be better is that we are developing long term relationships directly with the The factors of the chips, instead of going to distributors or going directly to board assemblers. The second thing is The amount of the commit that the companies are coming forward during the quarter makes sometimes Very difficult for us to predict what we can assemble and ship at the end of the quarter. It's going to it's getting better into 2023 as our supply chain now has The full view of commitments into 2023 of what we need to make our growth.

Speaker 2

Business that have been very affected by this are Frontline Care, which is our business under our acquisition Heal Rom, Our PSX, efficient support systems, the ability to make more pumps, we have very good Demand for our current pump, our Sigma Spectrum pump, we can't make more because we're missing 2 or 3 key components that are in Short a shortage in the marketplace due to high demand from other sources in the automotive and other areas. So what I can tell you is We are doing everything we can and the supply constraint is really what has impacted Baxter's performance in the top line. Now, VIPs or Value Improvement Programs have been a significant drag Off cost reduction for us in our operations group. I'll pass on to Jay to give him more clarity on numbers that he asked. Sure.

Speaker 2

Robbie, as we move to next year, we continue to assume a constrained top line Due to semiconductors and availability of other components. So that does not fully resolve next year.

Speaker 3

We do expect to see some improvement And no deterioration relative to today's level, but we will live with this throughout most of next year. As we think about the Margin improvement, really that's emanating from a significant improvement in value improvement program, things like automation that we have going on in the plan and that really helps support the 75 basis points improvement that we've discussed. We'll see lower than expected freight And we're only targeting roughly 75 basis points or in excess of 75 basis points because we don't have a big Commodity easing assumption in the numbers that we're sharing. To the extent that materializes, certainly that could be an upside, But we're not banking on that at this point. We're banking on living in a challenging commodity world For 2023 for the most part along with a supply constrained world.

Speaker 3

Those two items are very big uncertainties. I'm We take a conservative position and those break our way over the course of the year, but we'll have to watch that very carefully.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks a

Speaker 3

lot. Thank you.

Operator

Rick Wise of Stifel Is on the line with a question, please state your question.

Speaker 6

Good morning, Joe. Hi, Jay. I thought I'd focus on Hill Rom, which you described as down mid single digits. First, I wanted to understand, Is the decline if I think of Hill Rom maybe as a mid single digit ish kind of grower, was the decline To what degree was it integration bumps with Baxter? To what extent was it components?

Speaker 6

Was it all Supply and components, I'd just like to frame that. And Joe, when do you think based on what you know today, Hill Rom could return to being Hill Rom for you. Is it going to take into 2024? Do you think it's second half of next year? And then I have a follow-up question also related to Hillro.

Speaker 2

Rick, I'm going to have Jay answer that. I'll close Answering the question, but Jaysh is stuck. Yes, sure. Overall, Rick, Hill Rom did decline in

Speaker 3

the quarter, roughly 5% is down roughly 1% year to date. And what's interesting is that demand for Hill Rom products remains incredibly strong. We've seen historic levels of backlog in our frontline care business. We've seen backlog in Our PSS business as well. So as we look at the portfolio of products, the innovation, the complementarity with the Baxter portfolio, We're incredibly excited and the environment for their orders has been fairly strong throughout the year.

Speaker 3

It's been fairly consistent, But we've had severe supply constraints. And so without supply constraints, Hill Rom would have been probably flat in the 3rd quarter And on a year to date basis would be growing close to mid single digits, which I would characterize as kind of where we would have hoped it would have been. But with the supply constraints that have been extremely challenging, in particular in the case of frontline care, it's been hard to get to Sales level that we hoped for. So Joe, maybe you want to add to that.

Speaker 2

Yes. Rick, we have done, as a company A very thorough integration job here. Our synergies are coming Higher, much higher than we had estimated in the 1st year of the integration. Our supply chain people had to come in into Hill Rom And do a lot of work to reestablish lines of supply into the business. When the semiconductor prices hit, BEST was better prepared to handle that, the Hubert was.

Speaker 2

And what we did is we put our BEST to handle Much better, John. As a matter of fact, we had better performance than we planned in Frontline Care in the Q3 because we were able to get that Product, the products out of the door. We also have extremely confident management in both business. We have we are as resolved, which The Head of Front Line Care, we have Andy Fried, the Head of GSS and PSS. So we are very confident in the business we purchased.

Speaker 2

The business has the ability to perform. We will Fix the supply chain issues as we're currently doing and we'll be able to get back the Huron. There will be Made assumptions, but as you heard from Jay, our growth would have been ex supply chain what we had So I think Baxter brought to Hill Rom a combination of great portfolio. Hill Rom brings With great management and discipline that Baxter has to replace the team that was there and was able probably to do In the long term, a better job of this combination.

Speaker 6

Got you. Maybe I'll change the topic a little bit for my follow-up. You talked about passing along the cost pressures and you're in the process or you're well along signing new price agreements. Can you help us Think through, I mean, are you is this 100% of your business? How do we think about the impact?

Speaker 6

And just even touchy feely, Jay, how do we sort of factor that into our thinking as we look ahead to 2023 That you could have another 50 basis points of price on half the portfolio. Any extra depth or color perspective would be great. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Rick, we will have great questions, so we're going to split Jay and me here. But let me I'll start by saying that we do not comment in pricing on General Forza business. But as Baxter has taken so much into input costs It went up significantly in the last 2 years. We are very focused in recouping a portion of that If all possible. So we already had, as I mentioned, price actions throughout the year.

Speaker 2

But I would say that beyond what I have said, I'm not going to comment on any specifics about pricing discussions For agreements with our customers, but I can say to you in my opening remarks, as I said, we Strongly prefer to build on our long term relationships with our customers to reach agreements and how best to share and increase cost of delivering products to Yes, which cost us a significant amount of more money because the cost of wire, the cost of logistics, cost of raw materials, cost of delivery and everything that goes in. We have made significant progress I'm sorry, I'd rather say we have made significant progress towards that end. But To the extent that we do not reach agreement with any customer, we will, of course, continue to evaluate the options in front of us To recover the increased cost of our delivery and our mission to serve patients. That's very important to us because Baxter, If you ask any of our 65,000 employees, it's all about the mission of the company. It's an incredible company.

Speaker 2

I came here 7 years ago, almost to the date. And I continue to be impressed by the dedication of our employees. But we took a significant amount of cost increase in the last 2 years in our input costs. And supply chain has done a great job trying To defray that and offset, but it's as you can see by our margins, it's not possible. We would like that to be a partnership with They continue to understand that for us to deliver what we're delivering to them and the innovation of the products, we need Yes, partnership to continue on.

Speaker 2

So and I will end there and

Speaker 3

pass on to Jay. Sure. Rick, I don't want to get into too much detail on specifics around price and what pieces of the portfolio and so on, but it's safe to say Price, we expect price will be a positive contributor to our numbers next year in 2023. The other thing I would say is, It is something that we look at in every single market, in every product line. Why?

Speaker 3

Because in every one of our areas, we have been challenged with very high levels Inflation, very high levels of incremental costs. So from our perspective, we really have to challenge every sale to make Sure that we're garnering enough profit from it and offsetting some of the significant costs that we've had. Thank you very much. Thanks.

Operator

Pito Chickering of Deutsche Bank is on the line with the question. Please state your question.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Look, you mentioned that you haven't seen any cancellations due to hospital CapEx Pressures and that the backlog remains full here. How do you look at new orders on that backlog versus supply issues or keeping And are you seeing any impact to new sales versus stroke levels as hospitals struggle with lower margins and lower cash flows?

Speaker 2

We have seen sporadic cancellations of orders In institutions that are small and have labor issues in implementing CapEx projects are sometimes are large. But for the most part, we haven't seen that wave of If we could make 3 times, 4 times, I believe those folks. If we had made twice as many of our monitors, we would have sold the monitors. So It becomes a little different when it comes to beds. Beds are a larger implementation in software, software like yours called Button software like Volt becomes more elaborate.

Speaker 2

Those are the ones that sometimes we see postponements, not because of the price, More because of the labor, not because of the cost, I should say, but more because of the labor. So at the moment in time, I don't believe we're seeing A retraction in the capital market, we're seeing a high cost of labor for hospitals And a shortage of labor that makes difficult for them to undertake large programs sometimes.

Speaker 7

Okay, fair enough. And then follow-up on the supply chain. Can you break out the $100,000,000 impact to revenues in 3Q on semiconductors versus the other raw materials? Out of curiosity, what are these other raw material shortages? And then on the other side, the other data shows that the price Sort of end of the year improving, sort of, can you see semiconductor shortage improvement From July and due versus October.

Speaker 3

Sure. So a couple of things on today's question. First, the vast majority of these impacts rates to semiconductors. I would say that over 90% of the challenges that we faced relate to semiconductors. There are other Select areas where we have seen meaningful impact, for example, in our nutrition business, there are certain ingredients and vitamins that we're unable to secure supplier challenges, and that's had an impact as well, but the majority relates to semiconductors.

Speaker 3

Now as it relates Your semiconductor question, the type of semiconductor Used metros is a little bit different than standard semiconductors that are used in the most the highest tech products available today. And so while there has certainly been a curtailment of demand for some of these consumer products, the size of the Semiconductor that we use does not benefit from this curtailment of demand and normalization of supply. And I would even say, for some semiconductor manufacturers, They are seeing inventory levels build of the super thin semiconductor. And so we just have not yet seen this normalize in our case where We are all hands on deck working to secure the components that we need, and we'll continue to do that. But this is something that, as I said, we don't have a path Way, for this getting resolved in the immediate terms.

Speaker 3

Joe, I don't know if you'd like to add anything to that.

Speaker 2

More so, What we're doing is because we're seeing this issue with this The semiconductor manufacturers, not all chips are created the same. So you hear Intel Sales are down quite a bit. The PC is a good news for our chips. It's not. We don't use the same chips at all.

Speaker 2

We actually use very little, Very few chips from retail, for instance. We use our chips, our IoT, Internet of Things. They are thicker. They are much thicker, And they are chips that are using better software. So that demand, by the way, some of these chips are about 12 So because of that, we work very closely directly with Companies were being very successful, companies are working very well with us.

Speaker 2

But what we also do, we start a redesign program for our boards. We have identified critical components. We have started a process in our Reno business to redesign 3 of our boards with one of our suppliers and we have the frontline care program start right now to replace 6 key Semiconductors that may be constrained in the next 18 months with redesign of course. So redesign of course is not as simple as everybody think, it's not a Plug and play, because the form and fit and function of the semiconductors change, we have to redesign the board, we have sometimes to revalidate and clinically So saying just that we're redesigning boards that panacea is not, is audience on deck, is Finding new ways to deal with our current suppliers is buying directly from them, buying through brokers throughout the world, Inventory there is available as well as redesigning the boards, so we can have alternates that can be put in, In the future. So it is we became a much more sharp company when it comes to semiconductors and boards.

Speaker 2

And this process is despite the fact is very painful. We had to acquire significant expertise in this area. It is going to pay dividends in the future.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Joe, just a sort of quick follow-up on the first question, just to make sure I have this right. You're saying that new orders for capital equipment in the last 90 days in 2022 Is sort of in line or better than it was at this time in 2021 for new orders 6 months?

Speaker 2

No, I'm saying that in 2021, This time of the year, last year in 2021, we were not we didn't own Hurom, but their orders were extremely Primarily rentals were extremely high because COVID, okay? What I'm saying to you is we have not seen our book of business be affected By capital constraint, now and going forward, what we see is delays in some accounts due to labor shortages And primary large installations, but we have continued dialogue with everyone about Our orders, as a matter of fact, I'm planning to see in the Q1 of next year a large installation that we've been probably be doing in hospitals in the U. S. So I don't see we don't see today a significant change in the order pattern In capital, that's what I meant. I'm not comparing it to 2021, which had significant higher rent revenue into Hill Rom Because the COVID effect primarily, as you know, coming out of the summer and going to Omicron in October, November of last year.

Speaker 7

Great. Thanks so much guys.

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you.

Operator

Joanne Wuensch of Citi is on the line with a question. Please state your question.

Speaker 8

Thank you for taking my question. Briefly, It sounds like you're interested in back orders and backlogs. What's happening Those orders, are they being filled out? And I'll toss my second question at the same time. Sounds like you're also working to get better expense synergies out of Hill Rom.

Speaker 8

Is there a way to quantify what you think those may be now versus what you thought they would be before? And thank you.

Speaker 3

Sure. So from a backlog standpoint, overall, We are seeing those orders for the most part stay in place. We're not seeing others take share as a result of Constrained supply environment that we have in place. Frankly, a number of manufacturers have similar challenges. Now the question is how long will those orders remain?

Speaker 3

In some cases, if there's short term needs, then those are things that perhaps Might be impacted, but as we think about longer term for the most part, I think that these sales will represent Some level of opportunity in the future. As it relates to Hillron, we feel very good about where things are trending With the exception of the constraints that we have in place. And so we highlighted increased incremental cost capture At the May Investor Day, we're still trending along those lines very much in line with that with increasing confidence. I mean, I think it's important because we have some big step ups as we move to 2023 2024 in terms of incremental cost synergies. What's great at this point is as we sit here today, we feel we have clear line of sight and continue to make progress towards those numbers.

Speaker 3

So I think far as that goes, it's a very good story.

Speaker 8

Thanks.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Joanna.

Speaker 1

We have time for one more question.

Operator

We have Joshua Jennings of Cowen on the line with a question. Please state your question.

Speaker 9

Hi, good morning. Thanks a lot. Joe, maybe I wanted to ask just about Connected Care initiatives and Just how if anything you can share just on progress post the Hill Rom acquisition on developing disconnected care technologies Sure. What programs and how should we be thinking about updates and tracking the progress? And then maybe just a second question for Jay, just thinking about the target of getting down to 2.75 times net leverage in 2024.

Speaker 9

Just help us think through some of the puts and takes and your confidence level in terms of that you are on pace to hit that target. Thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker 2

Josh, good morning. So we are seeing several programs where we are working across divisions in the Connected Care. We established a new group that is actually under Andy Fry, one of our executives who is also the Head of GSS and GSS And we are seeing several programs From basic creating unified portals to access EMR systems in hospitals to features that can be enabled By the way, we have a lot of commonality in connecting the devices. So there's a lot going on. I think We should give an update to investors probably in the Q1 of 2023 about where we are with disconnected care programs.

Speaker 2

And so we have a brand new group that is Now across Baxter that is looking at this and creating opportunities. So we're making good progress in this area. I'll pass on to Jay for answering the other question. Sure.

Speaker 3

As you know, we're really focused on maintaining solid investment grade credit ratings. We define that BBB, so the rating that we currently have is one that we're targeting, maintaining. And in order to do that, we want to make very good progress towards The 2.75 net debt to EBITDA, which is our objective. I would say that from a cash flow standpoint, this year has fallen short of our And I would say that, of course, we've had some challenges on the income statement. But as we look at inventory, we've had a fairly substantial inventory build Over the course of the year, which is interesting because what's happening is you have a pump which is lacking one critical component And so you're unable to sell that pump until you get that critical component.

Speaker 3

For example, we also saw extended shipping lane times over the course the year and increases in the cost of our inventory due to our suppliers. And so for all those reasons, we've had a very challenging year from an inventory standpoint. I would note that in the 1st in the Q3, we did see a decline in inventory and we are expecting a fairly substantial improvement in Free cash flow in the Q4, as is typically the case. Here's the interesting thing, while net income growth next year is low, Free cash flow growth, we expect to be substantial. And so we're still finalizing our plans, But you're going to start to see a very significant acceleration of free cash flow growth as the inventory situation normalizes over the next 1 to 2 years and that will really support some of the work that we're doing to get to 2.75 times net debt to

Speaker 1

Thank you very much.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have today for questions. This concludes today's conference call with Baxter International. Thank you for participating.

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