NEW YORK – Oxford Nanopore Technologies reported earlier this month that its 2020 revenues grew 119 percent, driven by growth in its core tools market as well as COVID-19 testing revenue. The company also said that so far in 2021, revenue growth in its core business has been strong.
In a filing with Companies House, a UK government agency, Oxford Nanopore reported 2020 revenues of £113.9 million ($157.6 million), up from £52.1 million in 2019. Life science research tools revenues were £65.5 million, up 26 percent, while COVID-19 testing, which did not exist in 2019, brought in revenues of £48.3 million.
Product revenues were £106.1 million, while service revenues were £4.9 million, and revenues from lease income were £2.9 million. Revenues from the UK were £52.9 million; from the US, £16.4 million; Europe, £18.9 million; China, £7.7 million; Japan, £4.2 million; and the rest of the world, £13.8 million.
The firm reported a net loss of £61.2 million, or £0.002 per share, compared to a net loss of £72.2 million, or £0.0025 per share, in 2019. The loss from exchange differences on translation of foreign operations was £429,000, compared to £133,000 the year before.
Oxford Nanopore's R&D spending grew 20 percent to £48.6 million from £40.5 million in 2019, while SG&A expenses were £71.4 million, up 8 percent from £66.1 million a year ago.
"The year brought operational challenges for Oxford Nanopore due to COVID-19, but the business responded strongly," the firm wrote.
The company raised £161.3 million in 2020, compared to £200,000 the year before, including a private placement of shares from December 2019 and £132.8 million raised via private placements in May and September 2020. Oxford Nanopore said it used the funds to grow its commercial team, support R&D, and scale up biologics manufacturing capabilities.
The firm ended the year with 527 employees — 235 in R&D, 186 in SG&A, and 106 in production — and £80.9 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The firm did not provide specific 2021 guidance but said that the "general level of activity in 2021 is expected to increase, compared to 2020." Revenue growth in its core business "has been strong and accelerating in the first six months of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, with indicative growth of greater than 80 percent," the firm said.
Oxford Nanopore also said that it raised another £202 million from private placements in April of this year (in May, one of the firm's early investors had said Oxford Nanopore had raised £195 million). In March, the firm announced plans to go public in the second half of the year; however, in the filing it said that "the timing of the IPO is not under the control of the company, due to market condition."
In April, the UK Department of Health and Social Care terminated a contract for LamPore SARS-CoV-2 testing kits after determining it no longer needed them. Oxford Nanopore said there "is no financial effect on the net assets or any individual financial line item" for 2020, adding "we do not expect to suffer any liability as a result of this contract termination."
The firm's shareholders have also arranged for anti-takeover measures upon completion of the IPO, according to the filing.