Abcam reports continuing growth and strong prospects

Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a global leader in the supply of life science research tools, today issues an unaudited trading update for the year ended 30 June 2019 ahead of reporting its audited results on 9 September 2019.(1)

Financial performance

Overall, the Group expects to report total revenue of £259.9 million (2017/18: £233.2 million), representing growth for the year of 11.4% on a reported basis and 9.2% on a constant currency basis.(2)

Catalogue revenue, representing approximately 93% of the total, grew by 11.9% in the year on a reported basis and 9.8% on a constant currency basis, with all regions and product categories growing faster than estimated underlying market growth rates. Revenue in China grew faster than market at over 20% in the year and represents over 15% of total company sales.

Custom Products and Licensing (CP&L) revenue, representing approximately 7% of the total, grew by 4.7% on a reported basis and 0.4% on a constant currency basis, with gains in supply and licensing revenue offset by declines in custom project revenue.

The Group expects gross margin to be ahead of last year and Adjusted EBITDA(3) margin to be in line with the Board’s expectations.

2018/19 delivery against strategy

The end of 2018/19 marks the fifth anniversary of the Group’s ‘invest-to-grow’ strategy set out in 2014.  Over that period, the Group made signficant strategic, operational and financial improvements to sustain double-digit growth throughout the period.

During the last twelve months, those investments and changes resulted in further market share gains in the global research reagents market, particularly from Recombinant antibodies, Immunoassays, and China.  These market results came whilst delivering on plans to build organisational scale and seed investment for future growth in adjacent business areas.

Overall, the business achieved each of the strategic targets set out at the start of the year: 

Strategic Performance Indicators 

2018/19 target 

Actual 

Recombinant antibody product revenue growth1 

>20%

22%

Immunoassay revenue growth1 

>20%

22%

Customer engagement: transactional NPS 

57-67%

59%

1 Constant exchange rate

Next five-year plan to 2023/24

Increasing resources dedicated to advancing medical, biopharmaceutical, and research make the outlook for Abcam’s addressable markets of approximately $8bn attractive for the medium- and long-term.

The Board is currently reviewing its plans for the next five years to 2023/24 and sees significant opportunity to further grow the organisation organically through a programme of internally funded investments. The Group will provide details of the five-year plan alongside the presentation of its full year results on 9 September.  An opportunity to explore the plans further will be offered in a Capital Markets event for institutional investors and analysts on 14 November 2019 at its new global headquarters on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK.

Alan Hirzel, CEO of Abcam said: “Life science research and biopharmaceutical customers globally once again showed their trust in Abcam to help them achieve their research mission.  This trust made it possible for our business to expand our market leadership and achieve our strategic goals.

“The prospects for Abcam remain strong and with our focus on customers, we are confident that our investments in growth are aligned to creating long-term value for all of our stakeholders.”

The Group will report its full year results for the 12-month period ended 30 June 2019 on 9 September 2019.  A live webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Group’s website. A replay of the presentation will also be made available on the Company’s website following the event. Further details of the Capital Markets event will be published in due course.

 



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