13 January 2025
Oxford Nanopore Technologies
plc
Full Year Trading Update and
Notice of Results
Strong and accelerating
second half momentum, with full year performance in-line with
guidance
Highlights:
-
Commercial performance accelerated in the second
half in-line with guidance; underlying revenue growth in the second
half was approximately 34% on a constant currency basis
-
Full year performance in-line with guidance, with
reported revenues of approximately £183 million, underlying revenue
growth of approximately 23% on a constant currency basis and gross
margin slightly above guidance of approximately 57%
-
Medium-term guidance reaffirmed, with improving
top line momentum, further gross margin expansion and ongoing cost
discipline to deliver adjusted EBITDA breakeven in 2027
Gordon Sanghera, Chief Executive Officer,
commented:
"We are pleased with our performance in 2024, which is in line
with our guidance in a year that proved challenging for the broader
sector, demonstrating the value of our differentiated platform. We
are particularly encouraged by the increasing momentum delivered
across all regions into the second half of 2024, with overall
underlying revenue growth at constant currency accelerating to
approximately 34%. This momentum alongside our growing opportunity
pipeline gives us confidence as we enter
2025.
"Looking beyond 2025, our highly differentiated platform and
deep innovation pipeline coupled with strengthened commercial and
operational capabilities combined with a strong balance sheet,
position us well to deliver long-term, sustainable, above-market
growth."
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc
(LSE: ONT) ("Oxford Nanopore" or "the Group"), the company
delivering a new generation of molecular sensing technology based
on nanopores, today provides a trading update for the twelve
months ended 31 December 2024 ("FY24"), ahead of reporting its
annual results on 4 March 2025.
Full year performance in-line with
guidance. The Group expects to report revenue of approximately £183
million (FY23: £169.7 million), up 11% on a constant currency
("CC") basis, or 8% on a reported basis and driven by expansion
into customer end-markets outside of Research, i.e. Applied
Industrial, BioPharma and Clinical. This figure includes an
approximate £16 million combined headwind from COVID
sequencing and the Emirati Genome Program, slightly less than
previously expected. Underlying revenue growth at CC excluding
these headwinds was approximately 23%.
Underlying growth has been strongest
across the PromethION product range, up approximately 55% in 2024,
primarily driven by increasing customer flow cell utilisation. This
helped offset softness in the MinION product range, which declined
in the period due to a mix of factors primarily related to product
life cycle management, as previously outlined at the interim
results, that continued into the second half.
On a geographical basis the Group
delivered strong underlying revenue growth in all regions, led by
EMEAI and APAC and driven by new product launches, new and expanded
contracts, and increasing sales team productivity. The strong and
broad based acceleration across the business in H2 was moderated in
part by export control restrictions to China. The anticipated
acceleration in growth in AMR in H2 started as expected, and our
confidence that this will continue to accelerate in 2025 is
underpinned by our growing commercial pipeline across both our
existing customer base and new opportunities.
Gross margin for the full year is
expected to be slightly above the Group's FY24 guidance of
approximately 57%.
The Group remains well capitalised
with approximately £403 million in cash, cash equivalents and other
liquid investments as at 31 December 2024 (FY23: £472.1 million),
noting that a £8.3 million R&D tax credit is now expected in H1
2025, previously H2 2024.
Medium-Term Outlook
No change to medium-term
guidance:
·
Revenue is expected to grow by
more than 30% CC on a compound annual growth rate ("CAGR") between
FY24 and FY27 underpinned by continued penetration in existing
markets (Research) and expansion into emerging end-market
opportunities, in particular across BioPharma, Clinical and Applied
Industrial.
·
Gross margin is expected to
continue to improve and exceed 62% by FY27, supported by continued
underlying improvements in manufacturing efficiencies, increased
volume growth and further penetration of new
end-markets.
·
Operating expenses are expected
to grow at a CAGR of 3-8% between FY24 and FY27, reflecting a
continued focus on financial discipline to leverage the
infrastructure the Group has already built and to modulate
investment relative to the outlook for growth.
·
The Group expects to reach
adjusted EBITDA breakeven in FY27 and become cash flow positive in
FY28.
Notice of Results
Oxford Nanopore will announce its
preliminary annual results for the twelve
months ended 31 December 2024, on Tuesday 4
March 2025. Management will host a virtual presentation on the same
day, at 9:30am GMT/ 4:30am EST, followed by a Q&A session,
accessible via conference call or webcast. The webcast will be
available on Oxford Nanopore's website at
https://nanoporetech.com/about-us/investors/reports.
-ENDS-
This trading update is based upon unaudited management
accounts and has been prepared solely to provide additional
information on trading to the shareholders of Oxford Nanopore
Technologies plc. All figures are provisional and subject to
further review.
For further information, please
contact:
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc
Investors: ir@nanoporetech.com
Media:
media@nanoporetech.com
Teneo (communications adviser to the
Company)
Tom Murray, Jo Blackshaw
+44 (0) 20 7353 4200
OxfordNanoporeTechnologies@teneo.com
Notes:
-
All 'underlying revenue'
throughout this document excludes revenue from COVID sequencing and
revenue from the Emirati Genome Program (collectively £20.0 million
in FY23).
-
All 'underlying growth' throughout this document
is revenue growth after adjusting for COVID sequencing and the
Emirati Genome Program revenues.
-
Underlying revenues include fluctuations in
currency unless stated at constant currency.
-
Constant currency (CC) applies the same rate to
the FY24 and FY23 non-GBP results based on FY23 rates.
-
All percentages compare to the equivalent 2023
period.
-
APAC: Asia Pacific, AMR: The Americas, EMEAI:
Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India.
About Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc:
Oxford Nanopore Technologies' goal
is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the
analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The Group has developed
a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology that is
currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible, and
scalable analysis of DNA and RNA. The technology is used in
more than 125 countries, to understand the biology of humans,
plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and environments as well as to
understand diseases such as cancer. Oxford Nanopore's
technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact,
rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and
agriculture.
For more information please
visit: www.nanoporetech.com
Forward-looking statements
This announcement contains certain
forward-looking statements. For example, statements regarding
expected revenue growth and profit margins are forward-looking
statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "expect", "intend",
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "target", and similar
expressions of a future or forward-looking nature should also be
considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
address our expected future business and financial performance and
financial condition, and by definition address matters that are, to
different degrees, uncertain. Our results could be affected by
macroeconomic conditions, delays or challenges in manufacturing or
delivering of products to our customers, suspensions of large
projects and/or acceleration of large products or accelerated
adoption of pathogen surveillance or applied uses of our products.
These or other uncertainties may cause our actual future results to
be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking
statements.
