Operational fermentation delays: The trading update on 12th September highlighted that, due to initial validation and verification requirements, only limited additional revenue is expected in FY’23 from the ongoing scale-up of fermentation capacity in the US. As a result, EKF expects to deliver FY’23 revenue of around £53m with adjusted EBITDA in the region of £10m. A strategically sound investment: The upscaling of manufacturing capacity represents a core element of EKF’s post-pandemic growth strategy, first unveiled in June 2021. We continue to believe that the investment in fermentation capacity is strategically sound, against a backdrop of market capacity shortage in mid-scale bioprocessing. However, the project has been the subject of management change, cost overrun and several delays. Forecast downgrade, move to Hold. As shown overleaf, in anticipation of more detail on customer contracts, we take a more conservative stance on the short-to-medium term fermentation revenue trajectory. We stress that our FY’24e-25e estimates are somewhat indicative at this stage, and subject to further revision based on additional information expected at the time of EKF’s upcoming interims on 26th September. Our updated DCF-based valuation implies a target price of 25p (from 42p). We move to Hold.