There were mixed fortunes for biotech company Oxford Nanopore with a rise in both revenue and losses.
In its preliminary financial results for the 2021 fiscal year, the report reveals the firm’s revenue increased from £113.9 million in 2020 to £133.7 million, an accrual of 17%. Revenue gained from Life Science Research Tools (LSRT) also grew from £65.5 million to £127 million, a 94% gain. Gross profit margins rose from 41.2% to 54.8%.
However, the company’s losses ballooned from £61.2 million in 2020 to £167.6 million in 2021, roughly a 174% increase. In the report, Oxford Nanopore blames charges incurred from share-based payments, along with the costs of the firm’s September 2021 IPO. The impressive growth in LSRT revenue was also offset by a precipitous drop in COVID-19 testing revenue, shrinking from £48.3 million to £6.7 million for an 85% loss.
Innovations in its nanopore sequencing platform were highlights for Oxford Nanopore’s 2021. This includes release of its Remora tool for methylation analysis and the development of PromethION 2, a palm-sized sequencer expected to launch in certain markets in 2022. The company’s global headcount rose to over 800 employees in 2021.
As noted in the September report, Oxford Nanopore provides sensing technology that uses nanopores – nano-scale holes – embedded in high-tech electronics, to perform molecular analyses.
Its first products sequence DNA and RNA – and its sequencing technology provides real-time data delivery. The firm says its sensing platform has the potential to be adapted for the analysis of other types of molecules, for example proteins.
The biotech company explains that its platform is used by scientific researchers to answer questions about the biology of people, plants, animals, pathogens and environments. It is also “increasingly being used” in ‘applied’ settings such as clinical diagnostics, epidemiology and food safety.
According to Oxford Nanopore, it held £618.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and treasury deposits as of 31 December 2021. Its IPO’s net proceeds of £407.1 million are included in this figure.
After unveiling these results, Oxford Nanopore stock closed at 424.50 pence per share, down 3.96% from its previous close of 442 pence per share. This is in-line with the stock’s post-honeymoon swings.
After initially opening at 612.60 pence per share on 30 September 2021 and rising to a peak of 716 pence per share on 29 December 2021, the firm’s share price cratered to an all-time low of 369 pence per share on 8 March 2022. Since that low, it has risen and fallen slightly but stayed hovering around the 400-440 pence per share range.
The 424.50 pence per share figure is very close to Oxford Nanopore’s target of 425 pence per share from its IPO.
Looking to the future, Oxford Nanopore expects LSRT revenue to continue to grow to somewhere in the range £145 million to £160 million for 2022. In 2023, the biotech company anticipates further growth into the £170 million to £190 million range.
