NEW YORK — Novacyt said on Tuesday that its preliminary revenues for full-year 2021 were down 65 percent as a COVID-19 product supply dispute with the UK Department of Health and Social Care continues.
The French diagnostics firm also warned that its COVID-19 sales could be cut in half in 2022, a decline it hopes to offset with new non-COVID-19 offerings.
Novacyt reported preliminary 2021 revenues of £95.8 million ($129.0 million), down from £277.2 million the year before. The 2021 revenue figures do not include £40.8 million in COVID-19 product revenues from the DHSC, which is currently seeking a refund for certain products supplied by the company.
For 2021, revenues from COVID-19 products accounted for 86 percent of total revenues, compared with 95 percent in 2020, Novacyt said. At the end of 2021, the firm had £101.8 million in cash.
Citing the unpredictability of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Novacyt said that it expects COVID-19 reported sales could be as much as 50 percent lower in 2022 versus 2021, but that this drop will be partially offset by non-COVID-19 products sales beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
"We remain committed to becoming a leading, global clinical diagnostics company in the fight against infectious diseases … [and] endeavor to streamline our R&D program to ensure we are keenly focused on commercially attractive opportunities and bringing the right solutions, to the right customers at the right time," Novacyt CEO David Allmond said in a statement. "We will also reevaluate how we leverage our products in each of our target global markets as we continue on our path of international expansion."
In September, Novacyt posted a nearly 15 percent drop in revenues for the first half of 2021.