Biotechnology firm Oxford Nanopore (LON:ONT) maintained its forecasts for the next couple of years after positive H1 trading. Importantly for investors, the company said it was ‘tracking well’ towards its target of adjusted EBITDA breakeven in FY27.
Positive H1 progress
For the six months to June, the firm posted a 10.5% increase in revenue to £116.7 million. Weakness in Asia, led by China, was offset by growth in Europe, MIddle East, Africa and India as well as the Americas.
Growth was broad-based across end-markets led by Clinical, where revenue rose by 35%, and BioPharma, where revenue rose 25%. Sales of the PromethION product range grew by around 16% while MinION product sales grew by 4%.
| H1 2026 | FY26 Est | FY27 Est | |
| Revenue | £116.7m | £267m | £324m |
| Adjusted EBITDA | -£22.1m | ||
| Profit/Loss | -£48m | -£111m | -£80m |
Source: Oxford Nanopore, Stockopedia
Due to higher prices and economies of scale, gross profit rose 18% to £72.6 million. That represented a gross margin of 62.2%, up 400 basis points on the same half last year.
Maintaining forecasts
For FY26, the firm expects constant-currency revenue to grow between 16% and 20%. This excludes $20 million of non-recurring revenue from a global cross-licensing agreement signed after the end of the period.
Gross margins, excluding the licensing deal which is at a 100% gross margin, is expected to hold around 62%. Meanwhile, operating costs should be flat to minus 2% against a previous forecast of flat to plus 5%.
The firm maintained its forecasts of breakeven at the adjusted EBITDA level in FY27 and positive free cash flow in FY28. It also added new 2030 targets of more than $700 million (£520 million) of annual revenue and an EBITDA margin of over 15%.
At first glance, there’s not a lot new in today’s update, but just reaffirming its FY27 and FY28 forecasts is a positive for Oxford Nanopore. In fact, for any company, reaching breakeven and being able to fund its own growth is a major milestone.
Two thirds of sales go to the Research market, with the other third split between the BioPharma, Clinical and Applied Industrial markets. Across all four, Oxford Nanopore estimates its total addressable market today is $20 billion to $25 billion of annual revenue. Medium- and high-priority markets account for more than three quarters of that total.
Therefore, the firm’s target of $700 million of annual revenue by 2030 doesn’t seem far-fetched. With a margin of 15%, that implies EBITDA of $100 million (£75 million) compared with minus $115 million (£87 million) last year.
