hVIVO PLC (AIM:HVO), which performs contract research for the vaccine industry, said it has ‘full visibility’ over revenues for this year and the first half of 2024 as it gave an upbeat assessment of prospects.
In the outlook statement carried alongside the company’s prelims, hVIVO said it expects turnover to be in the order of £55mln, while the EBITDA margin is targeted to be in the ‘mid-to-high teens’ percent.
It also told investors that the order book continued to grow despite the cancellation of a recent contract win.
The update came off the back of a stellar financial and operational performance for hVIVO, which operates a vaccine human challenge facility in London’s East End.
Its revenues grew by 30% to £50.7mln in the 12 months that ended December 31, 2022. But such is the business’ operational gearing that EBITDA more than tripled to £9.1mln last year. It exited 2022 with £28.4mln in the bank and a contracted order book of £76mln.
A one-off £3mln, or 0.45p a share dividend is being paid and reflects hVIVO’s strong cash generation capacity.
Chief executive Yamin 'Mo' Khan called 2022 a ‘transformative year’.
“Moving forward, we will continue to leverage our world-leading position in the industry, taking advantage of favourable market dynamics.
"We are expanding our services and challenge models to better support our clients' clinical development portfolios, while simultaneously improving our margins with impactful efficiency initiatives.
“I have full confidence in the team's ability to deliver operational excellence as well as order book conversions, paving the way for long-term sustainable growth and profitability,” he added.