Half-year Results

Half-year Report

Manchester, UK – 17 December 2020: Yourgene Health plc (AIM: YGEN), the international molecular diagnostics group which commercialises genetic products and services, announces its unaudited half-year report for the six months ended 30 September 2020.

The results demonstrate the resilience of the Group’s core business during the first few months of the global pandemic, its responsiveness in launching COVID-19 testing solutions rapidly and its focus on driving further long-term growth through the acquisition of Coastal Genomics Inc. (“Coastal Genomics”) in August 2020. This half-year has also been a period of continued investment, further strengthening the underlying business and enabling growth for the full year and beyond.

Operational highlights

• IONA® Nx, the Illumina-based non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT), launched, CE-marked and now mid roll-out in EU; also approved in Australia
• Acquisition of Coastal Genomics and associated £15.1m (net) equity fundraise in August 2020, providing additional capital for investment in revenue generating assets and broader commercial footprint
• Launch of COVID-19 testing service in the UK and the CE-marked Clarigene Sars-CoV-2 PCR test, with overseas registrations underway
• All previous acquisitions exceeded performance conditions for the reporting period
• Launch of Yourgene Genomic Services in late September as a full lifecycle research-to-clinical offering, combining existing NIPT, CRO and research services plus recent partnerships in Alzheimer’s and Naso-Pharyngeal Cancer
• German reimbursement level set for DPYD testing, supporting market penetration for the Company’s Elucigene DPYD Test

Financial highlights

• Revenues increased by 5% to £8.2m (H1 2019-20: £7.8m)
• Gross profit up 4% to £4.9m (H1 2019-20: £4.7m)
• General administrative expenses up 21% to £5.2m (H1 2019-20: £4.3m) including £0.8m targeted investment including expenditure on the IONA® Nx transition programme, manufacturing scale-up and testing laboratory provisioning plus incremental acquired overheads
• Adjusted EBITDA* was a loss of £0.2m (H1 2019-20: profit of £0.4m) after the above additional administrative expenditures
• Operating loss £2.5m (H1 2019-20: £1.7m); £1.6m before separately disclosed Income Statement items
• Oversubscribed £15.1m (net) equity fundraise; being deployed for Coastal Genomics acquisition, laboratory expansions in Manchester and Taipei, IONA® Nx reagent rental contracts and stronger commercial team
• Cash used by operations reduced to £1.2m (H1 2019-20: £1.6m)
• Cash and cash equivalents as at 30 September 2020 of £12.2m (30 September 2019: £4.1m); net cash £11.9m (30 September 2019: £3.6m)

Post period end:

• Two US customer reproductive health contracts, delayed in H1 due to COVID-19 restrictions, now in final stage validation
• Awarded a renewed 3-year contract with St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for the new IONA® Nx NIPT workflow
• Partnerships in Japan and Taiwan for Yourgene’s bioinformatics platform and naso-pharyngeal cancer respectively
• Dr Joanne Mason appointed to the Board as Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Bill Chang remaining on the Board as Chief Entrepreneur, focusing on new scientific collaborations and business ventures
• DPYD adoption in Wales and recommendation for use by NHS England

Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer of Yourgene, commented:

“The results demonstrate the resilience of the Group’s core business during the first few months of the global pandemic and although Yourgene’s operating landscape during the first half was volatile, as experienced by the great majority of businesses, we have built a significant hedge through our UK COVID-19 testing offering. From a standing start in May 2020, our COVID-19 products and services generated revenues of £0.5m in H1 and have already exceeded that in the first two months of H2. We are very proud of our contribution to the global effort both to combat the virus and to get the global economy moving again.

“We have proven very adaptable in the face of COVID-19 and, whilst not unaffected, we have more than stood our ground. The reorientation of the business that was commenced in 2019, namely to focus on our four key strategic growth drivers – product penetration, geographical expansion, product expansion and acquisition growth - continues to bear fruit, and we are working well with our new Canadian colleagues at Coastal Genomics to convert the exciting pipeline of opportunities they bring to the Group. 

“We continue to have a very significant opportunity ahead of us, and we remain confident in our outlook for the current financial year. Being at the forefront of new diagnostic technologies, we are hugely excited about the prospects for substantial growth in the years to come and we are utilising the additional funds entrusted to us by shareholders to ensure we capitalise on these opportunities as effectively as possible.”

A presentation on the financial results and business outlook will be delivered by Lyn Rees, CEO, and Barry Hextall, CFO and will be available to view on the Company's website later today, here: Yourgene Health plc - Investor Videos and Media (yourgene-health.com)

* Adjusted EBITDA is the operating profit/(loss) before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and expenses shown separately disclosed on the face of the Income Statement

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.