Half-Year Report

Unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31st December 2017.

Bioventix plc (BVXP) (“Bioventix” or “the Company”), a UK company specialising in the development and commercial supply of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies for applications in clinical diagnostics, announces its unaudited interim financial results for the six-month period ending 31 December 2017.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Underlying revenue up 13% to £3.5 million
• Back-dated royalties from prior periods of £0.77 million
• Profit before tax up 36% to £3.4 million
• Closing cash balances of £5.6 million*
• First interim dividend up 20% to 25p per share

*excludes back -dated royalties

CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S STATEMENT

Business review

We are pleased to report interim results for the six-month period ended 31 December 2017.

During the half-year, an internal audit at one of our customers identified a back-dated royalty stream of £0.77 million that was due from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2017 and therefore outside the current reporting period.  We have therefore identified these back-royalties separately in the accounts.

Underlying revenues (excluding the back-royalty) for the half-year of £3.5 million (2016: £3.1 million) were 13% up on the previous year.

Total profits before tax for the half-year (including the back-royalty) increased by 36% to £3.4 million (2016: £2.5 million).  Cash balances increased, finishing the period at £5.6 million (31 December 2016: £5.2 million).  As with other royalty payments, this cash balance excludes the back-royalty which was received after 31 December.

Vitamin D antibody sales continued at the healthy levels seen in the prior six months and were approximately £0.4 million above the levels in the comparable period.  Growth in other antibody sales (progesterone, drug antibodies, contract NT-proBNP) also amounted to around £0.4 million.  The additive effect of these sales was more than sufficient to make up for the approximately £0.4 million of revenue that has been lost through a terminated revenue stream, as previously reported.

We have mentioned previously the developments of our troponin (chest pain and heart attack diagnostics) project with Siemens Healthineers.  In October 2017, we conveyed our expectation that the commercial development of this exciting new product would not gear up until calendar year 2018 and this expectation has been manifest in the reporting period.  We remain confident that sales will build during 2018, though our detailed understanding is limited by a six-monthly information feed through the royalty reporting mechanism.

Sales in China, largely through our appointed distributors, continue to progress and we have further evidence that our antibodies are succeeding in this important emerging market.

The majority of our scientific resource remains focused on our research projects and we are encouraged by the steady progress made in existing projects and the identification of exciting new projects for the future.  We will comment in more detail on these activities in our next report.

The Board continues to follow a progressive dividend policy that embraces continuity.  For the current half-year, the Board is pleased to announce a first interim dividend of 25p which represents a 20% increase on the previous half-year.

The shares will be marked ex-dividend on 5 April 2018 and the dividend will be paid on 20 April 2018 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 6 April 2018.

We are delighted to be able to report such positive news for the current half-year.  We are pleased with the continued success of our vitamin D antibody and the remainder of the core antibody business.  We remain optimistic about our troponin project and the success of Siemens as their product launches around the world and we look forward to further progress in the second half of the year.

To download the complete report as a PDF file click here.