Acutus Medical (Nasdaq:AFIB) announced today that it promoted Takeo Mukai to senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO).
Mukai joined Acutus in July 2021 as VP, finance. He expanded his responsibilities over the past 18 months, most recently serving as interim CFO.
“Takeo has led our strategic priority to drive operational excellence at Acutus since taking over as interim CFO in August,” said Acutus President and CEO David Roman. “Takeo’s strategic mindset, operating discipline, and extensive corporate finance experience has made him a key business partner as we drive gross margin improvement initiatives, optimize operating expenses, and ensure prudent cash management.”
Before joining Acutus, he held roles of increasing responsibility over 14 years at Medtronic, with whom Acutus recently executed a major asset sale.
“I am excited to move into the CFO role on a permanent basis,” said Mukai. “We have a tremendous opportunity to transform the field of electrophysiology through our innovative mapping and ablation solutions. I look forward to continuing to execute improved operating and financial results and supporting expanded market adoption of our core technology.”
Acutus shares outlook for 2023, preliminary Q4 results
Carlsbad, California-based Acutus expects revenues to total between $4.7 million and $4.9 million for the fourth quarter. That compares to $4.4 million in the same quarter of 2021. It also edges Wall Street expectations, as analysts projected $4.15 million in sales.
Acutus said growth came from an increase in commercial AcQMap procedures worldwide. It also highlighted the continued adoption of its differentiated mapping. The company also expects to reduce cash burn. Excluding its deal with Medtronic, the company projects a 25%-30% decline in cash burn compared to the third quarter.
Guidance for 2023 comes in a range between $16.1 million and $16.3 million, Acutus said. That compares to $17.3 million in 2021. Acutus expects declines in capital equipment sales and lower stocking orders on new console installations.
“We are very pleased with the progress exiting 2022, as dedicated focus on our differentiated mapping and therapy platform helped us exceed internal expectations and return the business to year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter,” said Roman. “At the same time, we have been able to drive significant improvements in our financial results associated with the proactive measures we took last year, which were further augmented by achieving key milestones in our left-heart access portfolio sale to Medtronic. I am extremely proud of our teams’ accomplishments through a dynamic and challenging year, and we enter 2023 with a strong foundation for future growth.”
AFIB shares dipped 3% to $1.30 apiece in early-morning trading today.