[:qa:]

[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]

All right, we'll go ahead and get started. Joe, thanks for joining us.
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Thank you.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
I want to start with some comments you made on the [indiscernible], which is int
eresting. And really, part of what I think you touched on is that so much of the
opportunity and both a challenge for the company is market development. And it'
s not about adding just the usual product but, really, the company's growth from
here is dictated by its ability to develop markets for new innovative surgery i
n emerging markets and developed and take the advantage inherent in the technolo
gy and adopt it very well in the U.S. It continue to drive in the U.S. and it ta
kes them into new geographies. It's about developing the markets for BRRX or supe
rDimension. I'm assuming there's -- whether it's in the U.S. market development
or Europe market development or emerging market product development, that's got
to be the key opportunities, as well as have to be, for Covidien, a key competen
cy to explore and to drive the company's growth. So maybe you want to talk a lit
tle bit about that. And within the context as well, kind of what you've achieved
in the last few years in the emerging markets, as well as on [indiscernible].
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
It is somehow a shift. And it's a shift that I don't believe is -- it is particu
lar to Covidien, but it is one that we are very committed. Innovation by itself
and just launching the product and getting that product to a certain peak sales
within 3 or 4 or 5 years, whatever that is, is not the only driver of value for
our company. You've got to be able to be in the right therapies and the therapie
s need to have adoption on a global basis. We're very accustomed to see the U.S.
as, in some instances, owning 70% of global sales, all the way down to 50% of g
lobal sales. And a lot of different products in the industry in general and for
Covidien, it used to be the case. You look and people are happy with that scenar
io and we are just move on. So as we look at the competencies of the company and
what needs to do -- be done in the U.S. in terms of future penetration and adop
tion of technology is radically different than we need to do in emerging markets
. But good news is Covidien has those core competencies and has demonstrated the
m in the past. So if you look some of the very strategic BRRX, superDimension, GI
, so lung, GI, neurovascular, all of them have a portion of new products. But th
e success is not directly related to new products. The success is directly relat
ed to our ability to get that technology in the hands of many, many people aroun
d the globe. So if you think about how Covidien has been successful in emerging
markets is by not just having sales force hired. You've got to have the sales fo
rce hired, you've got to have the centers of excellence, you've got to have the
R&D, you've got to have the scouts there to understand how the market's doing, h
eavier sales operation, the backgrounds of people, not selling to people they sh
ould be selling to and understand how the markets migrating and how the cities a
re evolving. So if we don't have that ability, we'll never get a superDimension
to get to peak sales in China or Brazil or any emerging markets. So the role of
medical technology companies is more complex today. And the ability to be succes
sful is not only your ability to launch those products and have 70% of revenue i
n U.S., 20% or 15% in Europe and 7% in Japan and the rest in emerging markets an
d you're satisfied with about 10 years of a lag -- of lag time between when that
goes and when you get to some distant sales is to accelerate that. In a world w
here growth is more difficult, you've got to explore every possibility to get de
eper into procedures and specialties and get it widely adoption -- or wider adop
tion of that technology.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Let's talk about a couple of items. First, I want to talk about the acquisitions
you announced this morning, maybe not everybody maybe saw the [indiscernible].
So just maybe you should probably touch on that and maybe explain how it kind o
f fits into what you're trying to do, what you're trying to build.
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
We have a very good organization in both places. Covidien had made this commitme
nt few years ago. In China today, we have close to probably 1,200 people, 1,100
people. We have over $400 million of sales. Brazil, about around $200 million in
sales. And we feel that we have done a good job still scratching the surface on
what we call Class 3 hospitals, Tier 1 cities and sometimes Class 2B hospitals.
What we need to experiment and get better at is the value segment. Because at t
he end of the day, the stratification of society, not everyone can go to the top
-tier hospital and get a treatment that they can pay a lot for. So how do we pen
etrate with products to those hospitals? So we did a little bit internally. As I
said, we are designing products in China and India today to go into those marke
ts. But also, the ability to get the right channel there. The right channel, com
pliant channel. Meaning, you have that channel and you did the due diligence, so
you understated you're doing business ethically. So that took us a long time to
find those companies. The second is the ability to make those products locally
and the right supply chain. Third is Covidien's ability to take some of those pr
oducts and improve them quickly and keep the cost where they are and go into tho
se markets. So if we don't test how Covidien's going to win in those markets, we
'll be talking about Class 3 hospitals in Tier 1 and 2 cities for a long time. S
o we've got to try that. Those products are not designed to come into the U.S. o
r parts of Europe. But we're going to explore every opportunity to bring in thos
e products across borders and emerging markets. And if they're good enough, one
point in time, they will be good products to bring back into the U.S. What we ac
quired -- our joint venture in China is primarily open surgery. Why? Because ope
n surgery is still a reality in class 2 hospitals across China. So if there is a
reality and there is a way of moving to a laparoscopy by owning that space of o
pen surgery, we will do it. And instead of us developing all this value segment
product, it would take 2 or 3 years, we're better off just getting somebody who
has it and do it. In the case of Brazil, it was more about having the access to
the public market with a cost-effective energy technology, bipolar and monopolar
. So they have sealing devices as well, and we have a significant amount of tech
nology. And don't forget, Brazil also has a play for localization. Meaning, ther
e are rules in Brazil that make much more attractive to sell a medical device pr
oduct into the market locally with significant financial advantages if you make
the product in Brazil. So for Covidien to launch a product in Brazil and open an
other factory would take us 2 or 3 years to outfit and get going and registratio
n with the fees. Now we will have a factory, and we can put more products of Cov
idien there and be able to service that market with a financial advantage versus
multinational companies that don't have that.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
So can you -- given your experience, as well as your success for the last few ye
ars, in building after emerging markets [indiscernible] business today. Can you
talk about what's reasonable to think about the ability of these markets to deve
lop and your business to grow over the, say, next 5 years?
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Our -- I think we were able to share with you in September that our aspiration i
s to double the size of that market, and that's 4 to 5 years. So if you look at
a compound annual growth rate of that kind of growth will put us right slightly
above what the market's growing today. So we have all the intentions in the worl
d. And as I said, you're going to have ups and downs in some countries here and
there. And it is what it is in emerging markets. You just take as it is. And it
is very important for Covidien to keep its commitment to continue to expand wise
ly there. One thing that was so surprised when I went to China in December was h
ow quickly we grew in our R&D center. We have now a total of 300 people, and we
probably are aiming to have about 500 people in the next 12 to 18 months, and th
e amount of the products we're developing and the speed by which they're being d
eveloped. I thought that group there was going to develop 80% of its products fo
r emerging markets is actually only about 30% or 40%. The rest is going to be gl
obal products. So the ability to grow there is in-equivocally on a positive for
us, and we don't have any other thoughts than slightly growth above market for t
he next 5 years.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Going to switch gears and talk a minute about Given acquisition. Can you just sp
end a minute for everybody on the rationale of the deal? Why now for Covidien, a
s well as what now or why now and history of Given?
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Given brings in a specialty to Covidien into the GI space that we currently don'
t have. We have BRRX with -- acquisition, which is our Barrett's esophagus treatm
ent, which is the only one available in the market. We have the reimbursement. B
ut it is one product in the GI suite. So when we look at the specialty, what are
the opportunities within that specialty that do not drive Covidien to go into a
more commoditized endoscopy, colonoscopy business or reusable instrumentation b
usiness is -- Given was one of them, diagnostic of Barrett's esophagus, so creat
ion of a quick diagnostic that we can partner with. Couple of diagnostic compani
es that can develop that assay and move forward is another thing that Covidien i
s doing. So we're spotting within that specialty, what are these spaces that Cov
idien can get good growth, highly profitable without having to go into a space t
hat has huge amount of competition in reusable instrumentation. So we thought th
at was a good play. No different than the play that we would -- that we did with
superDimension. The only difference is all the therapy is being developed by Co
vidien, because we have energy as one of our core competencies versus imaging. I
t's not one of our core competence. So that was the rationale. The second portio
n of your question was more about the timing. Well, we developed our strat plan
in terms of being -- of analyzing the environment, the changes that were happeni
ng in the last 8, 12 to 18 months. And that's when we made a decision to really
focus in creating a portfolio of products that covers 80% to 90% of a certain pr
ocedure or be very smart about investing in certain specialties that have still
some growth and profitability. So that's why we did it now versus before.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Cole, you may want to chime here as well. The -- if we think about the FY '14 gu
idance the company gave back, it's -- at its analyst meeting, agree with [indisc
ernible] on the 4Q earnings call. It was a good street model, and it is being mo
re back-half loaded. The devil is on the margin side. But your top line comp is
-- in our view, it's the toughest [indiscernible]. The CapEx comp went on -- fro
m the top line [indiscernible] margins. It's top in the first couple of quarters
, and it is -- it's the way the work here drives again, and I think we're going
on to 3 accurate. And how do you see kind of that playing out relative to the to
p and bottom line for the rest of the year?
[:p id="31263336" name="Coleman Lannum" type="E" :]
I think the way you describe it is fairly accurate. There's no question that FX
was a big negative hit to 2013, not only on the revenue line but also on operati
ng margins. And we're in the midst right now of still -- of getting hit by that.
That starts to turn, really, in the third quarter. And so the first and second
quarter of fiscal -- so the December quarters. The March quarter, really tough F
X comps and this is, of course, all assuming no change. From here, we never spec
ulate on what currency may do. We're just looking at the bit current rates. So w
e've got a couple more quarters here, actually. One quarter to report in a coupl
e of weeks and then one more quarter. And then FX starts to turn pretty signific
antly on the top line and on the margin, the margin side of things. And I think
that's -- that is appropriate, and I think most people have taken that into acco
unt. We've, certainly, I think, discussed that ad nauseam, to try to get the inf
ormation out there. And I think people have reflect -- reflect to that.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
You also have announced and I think -- I can't remember what time of the month.
I think this was -- this is -- coincided with the analyst meeting, certainly, th
ere's advertising beforehand, that the restructuring programs currently in place
is going to be -- you've characterized -- the cost-savings programs you put in
place. It's a multiyear program, projected, I think, between $350 million, $450
million after that period in time. Can you just talk a little bit about the timi
ng we'll start to see the benefit of that? Do we get any of that in '14, or just
the back half of '14, or is that more '15, '16?
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
We are executing the plans now. I've never seen such a flurry of requests for th
e restructuring program. We have a very formalized process that requests gets to
the CFO and gets to me. And we have a lot of work being done in Europe as we sp
eak. Some here is still in the U.S., and we're looking at the factory consolidat
ion program already on its way. The factory is the one that takes up couple of y
ears, 2 to 3 years, to get -- really get through momentum, because the complexit
y of the factories. As you know, we've been transferring and shutting down facto
ries and moving operations for a while. We probably took care of all the easy on
es that you can do in few months and start over again. So we have some large cha
llenge ahead of us. So I have no doubt we're going to finish those on time. But
those will a little be more midterm. The short term that you'll see more coming
into early '15 is all the headcount restructuring and some of the programs, of o
utsourcing that we're putting in place.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Questions in the room? [indiscernible]
[:p id="D00" name="Unknown Attendee" type="D" :]
[indiscernible] comment [indiscernible], talk about that market [indiscernible].
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Cole just gently remind me that we have Dr. Turco here in the room, who is our C
hief Medical Officer for vascular, as well as we have Stacy Enxing Seng, who run
s that business. I will quickly give you an overview of the -- what -- where is
Covidien with the strategic opportunities and maybe between Stacy and Dr. Turco,
you can answer more specifically. But we make several strategic bets, and we ev
aluate every one of them every 3 to 6 months for assumptions. One of the biggest
assumptions for renal denervation, other than functionally the thing works, is
the size of the market. And we're in the midst of doing this right now. If we fi
nd that the size of the market is not adequate and the amount of investment is h
igher than we thought, we have about 25 unfunded opportunities at the company wa
iting at the docket to go in. So as I said, we are very dispassion about the way
we manage the portfolio and if that comes to fruition. And I also like to remin
d you that what renal denervation is for Covidien is an opportunity that we saw.
And we thought that we went in with the appropriate amount of resources and is
counted in our business at a very, very, very modest level in 5 years from today
. So we have no decisions on that yet as we continue to evaluate. Coincidentally
, nothing to do with the announcement that was made by a competitor last week. W
e have nothing along those lines, at this moment, to talk about. But I'm just gi
ving you a perspective of how Covidien seized this opportunity. The same thing w
e saw with our divestiture -- of recent divestiture of our neurovascular sealant
, Confluent, the same thing. We look at to become twice as big in that. And #1 w
ould take us forever and a lot of money, so somebody else should own that. We se
ll it. We move on. I'd like to ask either Stacy or Dr. Turco, specifically to ta
lk about anything else on the technology.
[:p id="132233224" name="Mark Turco" type="E" :]
Thanks, Joe. So the -- I didn't quite catch the actual leading part of the quest
ion. But as Joe have mentioned, this is a market that has not really fully devel
oped. It's in the development. And it has developed, I think, slower than most s
trategic, including ourselves, [indiscernible] develop. So with that, I think we
'll continue to evaluate our progress in this space. We're pleased with our tech
nology. We're pleased with our clinical program and where we are today. What we
need to obviously do is assess, especially given where the market had been in th
is slow development. Stacy, I don't know, anything you want to add?
[:p id="154018302" name="Stacy Seng" type="E" :]
No, I think that's about that. And I'm sorry, [indiscernible]? And the other thi
ng that -- I think that is intriguing is to look at all the different possibilit
ies that made the therapy [indiscernible]. It was surprising, but generally surp
rising with what happened [indiscernible] last week. But there certainly is a br
oad scale of data that suggests the application of the therapy. It still remains
an exciting therapy.
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Thank you.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
[indiscernible] question [indiscernible].
[:p id="D00" name="Unknown Attendee" type="D" :]
[indiscernible]
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
I think I'm going to have Stacy come up again or Dr. Turco. They are better suit
ed to answer that. Nice to have people here who can do a job for me once in a wh
ile, get some water, take a break.
[:p id="154018302" name="Stacy Seng" type="E" :]
Yes. Dr. Turco can certainly comment on the -- at clinicals. What I would talk t
o you is that -- our current state when we made the acquisition. We felt that th
is was a strategic platform technology for peripheral vascular intervention. We
consider this to be a strong statement to date, both with our own data that we'v
e been developing, as well as many of the other current [indiscernible] data set
s that have come forward. We are very pleased with our CVI acquisition. It's bee
n going very well. We've been working with a strong team that stays here in Cali
fornia, have been actively transitioning that into our clinic facility in Minnes
ota. And all the feedback that we're getting from our customers, as well as all
the work that we're doing on the technology development program, we continue to
consider this a [indiscernible] investment for our peripheral vascular business,
again, along with potentially some additional vascular applications.
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Dr. Turco, anything else?
[:p id="132233224" name="Mark Turco" type="E" :]
I would just say, our partner -- so our clinical programs really has been a five
-pronged approach with the major clinical trials in the United States, i.e., ran
domized trial and the European randomized and then in full [ph], the registry. A
nd all those patients will be [indiscernible] United States to decide the approv
al. Our United States trial is going very well, and we're pleased. And as Stacy
had mentioned, the operators and physicians were very pleased with our technolog
y. So this ILLUMENATE, the clinical trial program, and the actual balloon that w
e're -- that our product name is Stellarex balloon and the program, on the clini
cal side, is moving along very well.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Can I -- can you just comment on area that people [indiscernible]? And that's yo
ur patient monitoring business. And that business was a better performer, probab
ly in FY '13, than people were expecting. There probably are opportunities for g
rowth that people [ph] are focus on. Maybe you want to spend a minute on that bu
siness. Why is that business core to Covidien, and what are the opportunity set
for you going forward?
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
I remember in September of 2012, somebody asked me what is the hidden jewel here
. I said that patient monitoring and the -- but nobody listens to the CEO anyway
. So lo and behold, we had a good performance in 2013. We feel very confident th
at we move the way. I want to make sure people understand. We're not an SPO2 com
pany. We have SPO2 as a product. We're a monitoring company. We have different m
odalities of monitoring. We have from respiration rate to capnography to cerebra
l oximetry, depth of anesthesia and SPO2. And we're going to now start looking a
t different settings across the continuum, to make sure that our technology and
how we follow the patient from hospital to home makes sense for us. So Bob White
and his team is very focused or are very focused in looking at other opportunit
ies, not only in the monitoring space per se, the parameters themselves, but als
o how do we take this technology and advance in different parts of the continuum
of care.
[:p id="26858564" name="Michael Weinstein" type="A" :]
Any last [indiscernible]. Perfect. Thank you, Joe.
[:p id="31263363" name="Jos Almeida" type="E" :]
Thank you.