Abcam reports continued strong sales growth, ahead of underlying market rates

Abcam plc (AIM: ABC) a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, is pleased to announce its interim results for the six-month period ended 31 December 2017*.

  • Revenue growth of 9.8% (11.2% constant currency1)
  • Full year constant currency revenue growth guidance increased to c.11%, including the impact of the Spring Bioscience licence agreement signed in January 2018

Financial highlights

  •  Total revenue growth of 9.8% on a reported basis to £112.5m (H1 2017:  £102.5m) and 11.2% on a constant currency basis
  •  Catalogue revenue growth of 10.0% on a reported basis to £105.2m (H1 2017: £95.6m) and 11.5% on a constant currency basis
  •   Recombinant antibody revenues grew by 21.1% to £22.4m on a reported basis and by 22.8% on a constant currency basis
  •    Immunoassay product revenues grew by 20.7% to £7.0m on a reported basis and by 23.4% on a constant currency basis
  •  Reported gross margin broadly in line with last year at 69.8% (H1 2017: 69.7%)
  •  EBITDA margin was 34.7% (H1 2017: 34.5%). Adjusted EBITDA margin2 increased to 38.0% (H1 2017: 35.1%), primarily as a result of the rolling-off of hedging contracts in the prior period
  •  Profit before tax (PBT) on a reported basis was £32.8m (H1 2017: £25.1m) and £39.3m (H1 2017: £32.1m) on an adjusted basis
  •  Reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 61.9% to 15.7 pence (H1 2017: 9.7 pence). Adjusted2 diluted EPS increased by 20.2% to 15.5 pence (H1 2017: 12.9 pence)
  •  Interim dividend increased by 21.1% to 3.42 pence (H1 2017: 2.825 pence)

Operational highlights

  • Continued commercial and strategic execution in the period, with all regions growing above underlying market rates and the achievement of all strategic key performance targets
  • Exclusive licence agreement announced with Roche in January 2018, covering approximately 760 Spring Bioscience products, including 243 rabbit monoclonal antibodies, in research use only (RUO) applications
  • FirePlex® (formerly Firefly) platform expanded within the kits/assays range by introducing 47 new antibody pairs and validated many of these pairs in multiplex immunoassays
  •  Further increased our addressable market in custom products and licensing, with twenty pharmaceutical and diagnostic partners signed up to ‘Abcam Inside’ framework agreements over the last 24 months
  •  Made continued progress towards full implementation of our new Oracle Cloud ERP system, although we no longer expect to go live in this financial year
  • Construction of our new headquarters in Cambridge on plan and we anticipate moving in early 2019

Commenting on the interim results, Alan Hirzel, Abcam’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “It has been another good half for Abcam, delivering double digit revenue growth whilst meeting all of our financial and strategic targets.  Our cash generation and balance sheet strength underpin continued investment into our teams, our systems and our facilities to enable us to grow. We remain on track to meet our strategic goals for the year and we have increased our revenue guidance for the full year. This momentum positions us well to deliver on our long-term goals, which we anticipate will continue to drive sustainable value for our shareholders.”  


1.        Constant currency results are calculated by applying prior period's actual exchange rates to this period's results.

2.        Adjusted results exclude the effects of system and process improvement costs (including related impairments), contingent consideration fair value adjustments, acquisition costs, the amortisation of acquisition related intangible assets, related tax effects and significant one-off tax items.  Such excluded items are described as "adjusting items".  For further details, see note 4 to the interim financial information.  

To find out more, please visit www.abcam.com and www.abcamplc.com



 



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