Hello, this is Theresa Agnew. Welcome to BioGaia Q4 report for 2023. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to CEO, Theresa Agnew, and CFO, Alexander Kotsinas. Please go ahead. Hello, this is Theresa Agnew, CEO of BioGaia. We are pleased to be here to present our Q4 results. We will start with our executive summary, with sales at SEK 298 million, so up 9% for the quarter, with overall for the year, SEK 1.29 billion, which is a growth of 17%. And these sales were strongly driven by our Asia Pacific and Americas regions, with specific strong performance in the U.S., Canada, as well as China, the Philippines and South Korea. Sales in our Europe, Middle East, Africa region decreased by around 29%, and that was mainly due to the performance in France, Italy, and Central Eastern Europe. Our EBIT went to SEK 81 million for the quarter, so growth of 13%. Overall for the year at SEK 443 million, which is growth of 23%, and our EBIT margin for the quarter is 27%, now for the year at 34%. So strong overall performance, both in sales as well as EBIT. We do want to communicate that we have terminated our distribution agreement with our Italian distributor, Noos, for non-performance, and we are initiating arbitration proceedings. So the performance of Italy has also been a drag on our Europe, Middle East, Africa sales. We are now securing availability of our products in Italy through a previous sub-distributor. The board also has proposed an ordinary dividend of 1.9 SEK per share, plus an extra dividend of 5 SEK per share, for a total of 6.90 SEK per share. So an increase in our overall dividend. So overall, our pediatrics business grew 17% and our adult business grew 20% for the year. A little bit more on the dividend. So we decided to increase the dividend to return a larger share to our investors. And we feel we have a strong cash position remaining for potential acquisitions for the future. But a number of years ago, we did raise some significant capital as we were looking at investments and acquisitions, but we didn't find something that was a really strong strategic fit or have the scientific evidence that we would want. But we will continue to look for smaller, more tactical acquisitions, and we are signaling that in the future, we do intend to give extra dividends of 50%-100%, and that obviously will be dependent on our cash position at the time. So a couple of the key events and launches, we always like to talk about this. One of our key events was that we, on October 16, said that our third quarter exceeded the market expectations, so we signaled that. We had a number of launches in the quarter, exciting areas around Gastrus. So BioGaia Gastrus is one of our adult-focused products, Pharax, which is an immune health-focused product. And as you can see here on the list, you know, across Asia Pacific, parts of the U.K., as well as Central Eastern Europe. To talk a little bit about the sales per segment. So as I said, pediatrics is growing strongly. If you look at the overall performance for the year, at 17%, for the quarter at 6% growth, mainly, driven by BioGaia USA, Canada, and Turkey for the quarter. Our adult sales grew for quarter by 18%, and overall for the year at 20%. So we've seen increased sales of Protectis tablets. We've also seen growth of Prodentis. Prodentis is our oral health-focused product, specifically in Japan and the U.S., and we're actually in the midst of relaunching Prodentis in Canada, so we expect a strong performance there as well. Pediatrics still represents the bulk of our sales, at 78% for the year. When you look at the regional performance, as I said, Europe, Europe, Middle East, Africa, sales did decline by 29%, mainly driven in Eastern Europe, France and Italy. In Asia Pacific, we had very strong growth of 60% for the quarter and overall for the year of 36%, as I said, mainly driven in China, South Korea, and the Philippines. And in the Americas for the quarter, we had 28% growth, for the year at 35%. Again, strong growth in the U.S., Canada, as well as Brazil for the quarter s o now I will turn it over to Alex to handle more of the financials. Thank you, Theresa. So to summarize our financials, as we heard, our revenues were approximately almost 300 million SEK, a growth of 9%. Operating profit of 81 million SEK versus 71 million SEK last year, a growth of 13%, and a margin of 27% versus 26% in the same period last year. Earnings per share at 0.67, and operating cash flow 122 million SEK. And I will go through a bit more details here. If we look at the sales, again, we had a growth of 9% in the quarter, of which 7.4% were organic and 1.2% were currency. And as the year has passed, in total, we can also look at the total. We had a total growth of 17%, of which 11.3% organic and 6% currency related. We look at our gross margins, they were fairly stable at 76%, this quarter, compared to 76% in the same quarter last year. We did see an improvement in the pediatrics gross margin and a decrease in the adult health. The decrease in adult health gross margin is mainly related to mix effects. And as you can see on the full year, we have a stable gross margin for the adult health segment and a slight improvement in the pediatrics. And just to comment, and again, since the year is concluded, we can say that basically we have managed to compensate for the cost increases we have had. The global cost inflation, we have managed to compensate by doing the price increases, which we did in 2023, and also prior to that, in 2022. So in a way, we are quite confident that we should be able to maintain a healthy margin as the cost inflation is decreasing as we see it now. Move on to the expenses, the operating expenses. They grew with 6% in the quarter and 15%, year-on-year. We have sales cost increase, which are in line with basically in line with sales. And the sales cost increased due to increased activities, for example, in Americas, in the U.S., and other markets where we have growth. R&D and admin costs were stable, and other OpEx was SEK 8.6 million versus SEK 3.5 million last year, an increase due to increased exchange losses. Continue to the P&L. Again, like we said, a growth of sales of 9%, OpEx grew 6%, and EBIT thereby grew 13%, leading to a margin of 27%, compared to 26% one year ago. Then to conclude, just to look on the cash flow, we see that our operating cash flow increased with 29% to SEK 122 million versus SEK 94 million last year. And this is, of course, mainly due to the increased operating profit that we have. And cash flow for the period was SEK 100 million versus SEK 89 million last year. Cash at the end of the period was SEK 1.544 billion. And with that, I hand over to Theresa for some concluding remarks. Yeah. So overall, as we said, our Q4 sales have grown 9%, which is solid. Overall year to date, sales at a growth of 17%. EMEA is our area that needs improvement, with our Q4 at -29% and overall year to date at -4%. Whereas we talked about Italy, which has been impacting our overall EMEA sales. Asia Pacific continues on a very strong growth trajectory at 60% growth in the quarter, and then 36% growth year to date. And as I said, driven by some of our larger markets like China and South Korea, where we have very strong online sales and an omni-channel presence. Americas has demonstrated strong performance as well, with growth of 28% per quarter and then 35% year to date. Just to make a note, during this time frame, Gerber decided to stop selling our co-branded Gerber BioGaia drops, yet we were still able to perform well in the U.S. despite this. Our costs are increasing in line with our sales. Our gross margin is stable, as Alex talked about, 73% for the overall year. Our EBIT margin for the quarter was 27%, and overall for the year at 34%, which is in line with our financial target. So very solid performance for our business for the quarter and for the year. So we would open it up to any questions that you may have. If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Mattias Vadsten from SEB. Please go ahead. Good morning. Thanks so much for taking my questions. I have three. First one is, you know, APAC looks like a super strong quarter, not only compared to a weaker Q4 2022, but also comparing to basically any other quarter in the history of the company. So could you describe maybe a little bit more in detail what's happening and any particular large orders that we should be aware of in the quarter or anything like that? That's the first one. Yeah, so, we can take that question first. So Asia Pacific, strong performance, as I said, in China, South Korea, the Philippines. And this is underlying performance of the business. So we continue to see those strong sales, specifically in our online sales. We have very important partners in those markets, that are doing an exceptional job, with growing our BioGaia brand. So, you know, we do many things on whether it be TikTok, Tmall, in China. Our partner in South Korea is Grace, and they are very strong at consumer products as well as healthcare products. We've recently met with them. They're doing an exceptional job. We feel that this performance is very strong in Asia Pacific, and, you know, in talking with our partners there, we feel the market is gonna continue to grow, and our business will continue to grow. That's very encouraging to hear. Then on Italy, if you could explain what's happening there, maybe a bit more in detail. Are you planning to establish your own subsidiary there to sell yourself? Maybe just, yeah, how we should think about Italy also coming quarters, perhaps, and what Italy perhaps of group sales would be interesting as well. Yeah. So Italy is a very important market for us. It's one of our top ten markets and one of the largest probiotics markets globally, so it's extremely important. And we have stopped distributing to our partner Noos due to lack of performance. We will now be pursuing a relationship with a previous sub-distributor. So we will continue to have a partnership rather than taking that business direct. So it is a very important market for us. We want to have a strong relationship with, with whatever partner we put into place. And we have a lot of effort there to build the brand, the local brand, through medical marketing, mainly, marketing to healthcare professionals. Okay, but if we just maybe take a strategic question. You've done a very successful job in going yourself direct in a few markets here recent years. And as I see it, maybe Spain, Italy, perhaps Germany as well. Do you know, are you having enough volumes and so on to go yourself in any of these markets, or should we just expect you guys to continue to have distributors in those markets? Or, yeah, just some, maybe some thoughts on how to think about it. Yeah. So we don't share our future plans, in terms of any businesses that we would want to take direct. Let me say that first. How we look at taking our businesses direct is we look at the size of the market, we look at the growth of the market, we look at the potential and the current performance that we have with partners. That's very important as we look for the future. But we don't have any current plans, so we can't really share that. But with Italy, we do, as I said, have a previous sub-distributor that we can do a potential partnership with, for Italy, specifically. Okay, good. Thanks. And, my last one, yeah, you, you write in the CEO letter for significant investments in marketing and sales, to, to increase the growth rate. That seems reasonable, but do you... You know, how should we read, read this? What kind of growth in sales and marketing expenses do you see for 2024? Then if I may, also on R&D, it was flat full year 2023 over 2022. So just if we should expect this now again to increase with perhaps sales going forward or, you know, if this level is sufficient based on your plans in clinical trials and, and so on. So those- Yeah. This was my last one. Yeah, so good, good question. So in terms of marketing expenses, we will be doing targeted increases in certain markets where we feel there is potential. We will only invest in strong ROI-driven marketing efforts. So we tend to focus in the digital marketing area, because it's, it's a really strong way to reach, the consumer. We will also be focusing on increasing our reach of our medical marketing. So we have extensive scientific evidence, as you know, and we want to drive the reach of that information and that education to healthcare professionals as much as possible. So we are looking at new digital platforms to be able to do that more effectively. So I would say it's an increase in the focus on consumer marketing in certain strategic markets, as well as the reach of our medical marketing and education on our probiotics and our science to healthcare professionals. And then in terms of your question on R&D, we anticipate that we will continue to have R&D percent to net sales at around 10%. So as our sales increase, then our R&D expenses will increase commensurate with that. So we will continue to focus on the most important areas to drive clinical studies, but also, not just ourselves, we partner with a vast network of universities that are doing clinical studies as well. I think that's perfectly clear. Thanks so much. Thank you. The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from Carnegie. Please go ahead. Thank you, and good morning. I have two, yeah, four questions, actually. First, if I could follow up on the previous one on, on Italy, if you could maybe talk a little bit more about the financial impacts we have seen here in, in the quarter, maybe for 2023, and, and how we-- how do you think this will impact, 2024 now, when, when you have terminated the existing agreement? Yeah. So on that first question, since we have terminated the agreement, and we are looking for a previous sub-distributor relationship, so we plan on continuing to ship into Italy and keep that market going for our business. So even though it has negatively impacted for 2023, we do anticipate to be able to achieve sales in Italy for 2024. Okay, but is it possible to say how much lower sales you had in Italy? For example, were you selling anything through the previous distributor in or the distributor that you have terminated with now? You were not selling anything to them in Q4, I guess. Alex here. No, I mean, we have been selling during the year and also during the fourth quarter, but to a much larger extent than what we would, we were hoping to, so to speak. We are not, we have not been satisfied with the relationship and how it has developed, so it has been quite weak sales for the year and during the quarter. And that leads then in total, that our Italian sale has been quite weak. Yeah. Then, like we said, we have a sub-distributor also that is distributing products, so, but the main distributor, which we now have terminated or are in arbitration with, have been part of that sale, and that has been weak, so to speak. And that means that for next year, we do hope that, you know, our sales will improve, so to speak, but it remains to be seen, but we hope things will be better. Okay, so you expect higher Okay. Sorry. You expect higher sales, sorry. So you expect higher sales in Italy in 2024 versus 2023? Well, since sales was quite weak with this distributor during the year, you know, to some extent, we will not have any sales to that distributor, which we are in arbitration with. On the other hand, we have the other distributor, so we don't really give a projection, but we do hope, you know, that this will improve the situation in Italy, definitely. Okay. And the same with Gerber in the U.S. I thought that they had maybe 20% of your U.S. sales previously. So what was the impact here, and how should we view that potential impact in 2024? Yeah, so good question. No, it's a much lower percentage of the U.S. sales than 20%. And actually, when they terminated because they wanted to stop selling our co-branded products, the good news is our U.S. business has been able to recover and is growing very well. So, you know, as we look to 2024, we hope to continue the strong momentum in the U.S., to be able to cover for the sales that we lost from the Gerber partnership. Okay, so you expect, when you say, "hope to recover," is that in absolute terms, or do you expect to keep the same type of growth rate? We expect to keep the same type of growth rate. Okay, thanks. And then, just if you... I don't know if you want to say anything about the, the stocking effects in Brazil, and then my final question is, if you could just say something, how much interest rates you receive on, on your cash, currently? Thank you. Okay. On the stocking effects in Brazil, so we actually have a new product launch, which is Protectis Easy Dropper. It's one of our consumer preferred formats for our Protectis drops. So, you know, our stocking effect has to do mostly with that pre-order before the sales begin. So, you know, we-- that's why we wanted to signal that we did have some stocking effects in Q4. And then in terms of the interest rates, I'll let you answer that. Yeah. So regarding the interest rates, we have an approximate around 3% during the quarter return, around 3%, but of course, this will vary in going forward, and it will actually decrease as interest rates are declining. Talking about interest, or the financial net there, you want to say anything about new assumptions for the future earn-outs from the previous U.S. distributor? Do you mean, are you talking about Gerber, Gerber previous? Is that what you mean? No, I mean, no, I mean, your negative effect in the financial net related to changed assumptions for future earn-outs in Nutraceutics. Ah, okay. Yeah. No, I mean, that, that is an effect of, of the fact that, you know, we are performing very well in the US. Our, our own subsidiary is performing very well, very well, the company we acquired, Nutraceutics. And therefore, we reevaluated the, the future, earn-out, so to speak, and that is why you have that effect. Okay, thank you. The next question comes from Mattias Häggblom from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead. Yep, good morning, and thank you so much for taking my questions. I have a few. So excluding Italy, was EMEA up, down, or flat in the quarter? No, I don't. No, in terms of specifically for this quarter, no. I'd say Italy was the market where we saw that the most. Excluding Italy, it was flat or even growing? No, no. Still down. Still down. Are you talking Europe, Middle East, Africa, specifically? Yeah, well, yeah. Well, yes, just EMEA excluding Italy. You know, it was a sizable decline, but we assume that most of that was linked to Italy. So I'm just thinking, trying to isolate, so to say, the situation. So excluding Italy, for your still large region, EMEA, just trying to understand how that would have performed excluding the effect from Italy. Okay. Yeah. So, excluding Italy, we did have some weaker performance in France, and that's because we are lapping very strong growth from 2022. But we foresee, you know, in talking with our partner there, you know, we foresee some growth for 2024. So I would say it was mainly Italy and then France, and then some small declines in some of the Central Eastern European markets. That's clear. And then I'm curious to hear your thoughts around the ability to accelerate growth, as you state in CEO statement, while at the same time, dividend policy suggests that you will hand out more cash to the shareholders. So should we interpret that the vast majority of this acceleration is gonna come from organic initiatives? And perhaps also help us understand what acceleration means from a fairly high number of 11% in 2023. Yeah. So what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna look at targeted marketing investments in certain markets where we feel we can accelerate growth further. So there are some particular markets that are doing extremely well, such as US and Canada, where we feel we can continue to invest, and it's really about building our brand. So we want to make these strategic investments that have a strong ROI to continue to build our BioGaia brand. So that when we talk about, you know, accelerating growth, there'll be particular markets that we're focused on in terms of our top 10 markets. That's clear. And then my last question is around the next generation strain. When should we expect to hear some outcome of the ongoing clinical trials for that? So we don't share that information. We do have an ongoing study. We are recruiting patients. We're getting updates on this, weekly, monthly. It's a multicenter clinical study across multiple countries. We're looking for new sites as well, so we'll be going to other countries actually next week to look at additional sites. So we don't share the exact timing, but as we get closer, we will share more of that. Thanks so much. Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from Carnegie. Please go ahead. One additional question. Could you say what the price impact was on sales for full year 2023, and what we could expect for 2024? Thank you. Yeah. So, we made a price increase during 2023. It was, sorry, it was smaller in percentage than it was in the previous year, but it was a price increase, which was like in the mid-teens. And then, since we didn't... Some of the prices are increased yearly, some are increased during the year, some contracts you do not increase because it's predetermined, et cetera. So the net price increase were a bit, was a bit lower than the general increase, so to speak. Just to give some background. So, there was a price increase for the year, but we cannot really comment exactly on, you know, how large it was, but it was smaller than in the previous year. And then for the coming year, we don't foresee any major price increase at the moment, since cost inflation is coming down. So we rather actually, since we believe we can maintain our margins, we believe it is better to give our distributors and et cetera some headroom to invest in marketing and sales. So going forward, we don't anticipate any large price increase other than maybe in selected markets and selected products. It could be some minor things. I hope that answers the question. Even with that in mind, you, you talk about accelerating growth, or then maybe you refer to volumes. Yes. I mean, we do, we do refer to volumes in terms of as we spend more from a marketing and sales point, sales point, that we will be able to drive our units even more. Okay, thank you. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments. We want to thank you for joining us for this call, and we look forward to future discussions and any further questions that you have in the future. Thank you so much.