Oxford BioMedica annual revenue leaps on AstraZeneca vaccine deal

(Alliance News) - Oxford BioMedica PLC on Thursday reported a surge in revenue for 2020 and looked to further strong growth in the year ahead.

Revenue for 2020 jumped 37% to GBP87.7 million from GBP64.1 million the year before, while the gene and cell therapy company's pretax loss slimmed substantially to GBP6.6 million from GBP20.9 million.

Notably, Oxford BioMedica in 2020 became a key manufacturer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca PLC Covid-19 vaccine.

Having signed an initial agreement in May, Oxford BioMedica signed an 18-month supply agreement in September under a three-year master supply and development agreement for the large-scale manufacture of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Oxford BioMedica received a GBP15 million capacity reservation fee with additional revenue in excess of GBP35 million expected by the end of 2021.

Further to this, Oxford BioMedica expects an increase in underlying LentiVector platform based revenue in 2021 from both bioprocessing and commercial development activities.

"It is therefore expected that revenues for the group should grow strongly in 2021," the firm said.

At an operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation level for the year ahead, Oxford BioMedica expects an increase from 2020, though at a more modest rate than revenue due to increased research and development spend as it invests for the future.

The company reported operating Ebitda of GBP7.3 million for 2020, swinging from a loss in 2019 of GBP5.2 million.

"I am truly proud of the group's achievements over the period. We not only secured major new partnerships, brought the Oxbox manufacturing facility online in record time and responded to the challenges of the pandemic, but the team has also been able to rapidly work with AstraZeneca to provide a vaccine solution for Covid-19," said Chief Executive John Dawson.

"Looking to the future, with the continued tide of growth in cell and gene therapy, coupled with the group's leadership position in the lentiviral vector field, we are well positioned to advance both our own proprietary pipeline and that of our current and future partners' programmes."

Shares in Oxford BioMedica were up 0.8% at 1,048.00 pence in London on Thursday. The stock is up more than 50% over the past 12 months.

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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