Horizon Discovery Group plc Full Year Unaudited Results for the Twelve Months Ended 31 December 2019

Horizon Discovery Group plc

Full Year Unaudited Results for the Twelve Months Ended 31 December 2019

Cambridge, UK, 27 April 2020: Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) ("Horizon", "the Group" or “the Company”), a cell engineering company focused on commercialising the application of gene editing and gene modulation to accelerate scientific innovation and biopharmaceutical drug development, today announces its full year unaudited financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2019.  

Group Financial highlights

• Revenues¹ from Continuing Operations of £58.3m (FY 2018: £54.1m) growth of 7.8% (£56.7m on a constant currency basis² 4.8% YoY increase)
• Gross Margin from Continuing Operations of 70.0% (FY 2018: 69.7%)                 
• Adjusted EBITDA³ from Continuing Operations of £3.9m (FY 2018: £2.1m) 
• Cash position at 31 December 2019 of £18.8m (FY 2018: £26.7m)
• Loss on continuing operations before tax of £11.5m (FY 2018: £6.6m loss)

Business Unit performance⁴

• Research Reagents: Revenues of £33.5m, growth of 8.4% (FY 2018: £30.9m), or growth of 5.2% on a constant currency basis
• Screening: Revenues of £11.4m, growth of 28.1% (FY 2018: £8.9m), or growth of 24.7% on a constant currency basis
• Bioproduction: Revenues of £8.6m, down 1.1% (FY 2018: £8.7m), or a decline of 3.4% on a constant currency basis
• Diagnostics: Revenues of £4.8m, down 14.3% (FY 2018: £5.6m), or a decline of 16.0% on a constant currency basis

Other (including post-period end)

• Divestment of In Vivo business unit completed in December 2019
• Strategic collaboration with Mammoth Biosciences signed in December 2019
• Post period end, in January 2020, the Group exercised an option to exclusively license base editing technology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), for use in all therapeutic applications
• Post period end, in April 2020, raised £6.9m gross through a Placing of approximately 4.5% of the current share capital in order to provide additional financial flexibility to protect and grow the business during the COVID-19 crisis

1 – During the 2019 financial year the In Vivo business unit contributed revenues of £4.6 million. The In Vivo business unit is reported as discontinued operations in the FY2019 and FY2018 results.

2 – Calculated revenue on a constant currency basis by translating any current year revenues generated in foreign currencies into British Pounds, our reporting currency, using the average foreign currency exchange rate from the prior period.

3 – Defined this as loss for the year from continuing operations before taxation, finance costs, investment income, amortisation and depreciation and items which are non-recurring and do not form part of our underlying year to year expense base.  Adjusted EBITDA incorporates a positive £2.5m impact of IFRS 16 which was adopted on 1 January 2019. A reconciliation of the loss for the period from continuing operations to adjusted EBITDA is presented in the Financial Review section.

4 – New market aligned business unit structure introduced in January 2019.  Prior year equivalents provided for comparison

Terry Pizzie, Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Discovery, commented: 

 “In 2019, we prepared the business for growth by investing to improve operational efficiency, discontinuing non-core operations and doubling down on high-growth operations. As a result, we moved into 2020 with a simplified, more robust and focused business comprising a mix of well-established and potentially disruptive business units.

“Following our recent Placing the Group has a robust balance sheet, which when combined with the range of other mitigating actions being taken, will mean the business has the financial flexibility to continue its investment in strategic projects and a sufficient working capital and liquidity position, providing protection in the event of a prolonged COVID-19 related economic downturn.  

“We remain confident about the Group’s long-term prospects given our industry-leading gene editing and gene modulation expertise and our broad portfolio of tools and services, which provide the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage and strong prospects for growth in 2020 and beyond.

“However, given the ongoing uncertainty around the scope, duration and impact of the pandemic, Horizon is unable to predict the full year consequences of coronavirus.”

Analyst webcast and conference call:

Horizon Discovery will present its Results via live webcast today at 12:00pm BST. There will be a simultaneous live conference call

Conference call details:

• Participant UK dial‐in: 0800 2796 619
• Participant US dial‐in: 1 877 870 9135
• International dial‐in: +44 (0) 20 7192 8338
• Participant code: 7984877

The live webcast and presentation slides will be available on the Group’s website:

For further information from Horizon Discovery Group plc, please contact:

Horizon Discovery Group plc

Terry Pizzie, Chief Executive Officer

Jayesh Pankhania, Chief Financial Officer

Jon Davies, Head of Investor Relations

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 655 580

Numis Securities Limited (Broker and NOMAD)

Freddie Barnfield / Duncan Monteith

Tel: +44 (0) 207 260 1000

Consilium Strategic Communications (Financial Media and UK Investor Relations)

Mary-Jane Elliott / Matthew Neal / Melissa Gardiner

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700

Email: 

Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)

Katie Odgaard

Tel: +44 (0)7787 502 947

Email:  

Westwicke, an ICR Company (US Investor Relations)

Stephanie Carrington

Tel.

Email: 

About Horizon Discovery Group plc

Horizon Discovery Group plc (LSE: HZD) ("Horizon") is a cell engineering company focused on commercializing the application of gene editing and gene modulation to accelerate scientific innovation and biopharmaceutical drug development. Horizon’s portfolio of tools and services is built on decades of experience in altering the expression of genes across mammalian and human cell types to provide cell engineering tools and services to customers in three key areas of the therapeutic ecosystem: basic research, drug discovery and development and therapeutic applications. Horizon’s offerings support and enable critical elements of the drug development and therapeutic value chain, particularly in the area of precision medicine. Horizon’s customers include biopharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, contract research and manufacturing organizations and academic researchers across the globe.

Horizon is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with offices in USA and Japan.  The Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market under the ticker HZD.

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