hVIVO PLC (AIM:HVO) chief executive Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan talked with Proactive about the company’s unaudited results for the first half of 2025 and its outlook for the remainder of the year.
Khan explained that revenue for the period came in at just over £24 million, supported by a diversified mix of services, therapeutics, and clients.
He added that EBITDA of around £3 million was “helped by the postponement and cancellation fees that we recognised in the first half of this year, together with some of the operational efficiencies that we have already put in place and disciplined cost management.”
Cash at 30 June 2025 stood at just over £23 million, while the weighted contracted order book was about £40 million.
He noted that the broader CRO industry has faced macroeconomic and sector headwinds, particularly in the vaccine field, which has led to postponements, cancellations, and longer sales cycles.
Despite this, Khan said he believes human challenge trials remain highly relevant and could see stronger adoption as drugmakers look to develop medicines faster and at lower cost.
The integration of CRS and Cryo Store has progressed well, delivering cross-selling opportunities and annualised savings. Looking ahead, hVIVO expects to deliver about £47 million in revenue for 2025, with a small single-digit EBITDA loss, and aims to return to growth in 2026.
Proactive: Hello, you’re watching Proactive. I’m joined by hVIVO chief executive Mo Khan. Mo, very good to speak with you this morning. You’ve released your unaudited results for the first half of 2025. Could you give us a high-level overview of the results, please?
Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan: Of course. The results are very much in line with the July trading update we provided two months ago. Revenue for the first half of 2025 was just over £24 million, with a strong mix of services, therapeutics, and client base. This reflects our ongoing diversification strategy.
On EBITDA, we reported around £3 million, helped by postponement and cancellation fees recognised in the first half, alongside operational efficiencies and disciplined cost management. Cash at 30 June 2025 stood at just over £23 million. Our weighted contracted order book was about £40 million. We report weighted numbers as they are more realistic, since we assign probabilities to projects based on their likelihood to proceed.
Proactive: The CRO industry has faced macroeconomic and sector-specific headwinds. How has this affected hVIVO and your 2025 delivery?
Khan: The broader CRO industry has been impacted by macroeconomic and sector-specific headwinds, and we’re not an exception. The vaccine field, in particular, has faced challenges, especially with changes in the US. As a result, we’ve seen postponements, cancellations, and lengthening of sales cycles, especially for human challenge trials. Clients are taking a wait-and-see approach before committing further investment.
That said, human challenge trials remain robust and highly relevant. I believe they will make a stronger comeback, driven by global pricing pressure on medicines. Manufacturers are looking to develop drugs faster and cheaply. For vaccines and antivirals, human challenge trials offer both speed and cost advantages compared to classical methods.
In the non-challenge trial sector, we’ve seen good growth in our clinical services with CRS and our site services in London, as well as in hLab services.
Proactive: One of the major highlights from the first half was the acquisition of CRS and Cryo Store. How is the integration going, and how is hVIVO positioning itself going forward?
Khan: Both integrations are going really well. CRS, a German-based phase one CRO with sites in Mannheim and Kiel, has an excellent, motivated team that has already delivered strong sales. Cryo Store, a smaller enterprise in London, has helped expand our biobank capabilities.
The main aim was to bring people.le, processes, and systems together. Most of that has been achieved, with systems integration ongoing. We expect most integration costs to be finalised by year-end. We’ve already identified about £1 million in annualised savings and achieved about £3 million in cross-selling opportunities.
Proactive: You recently welcomed non-executive chairman Shaun Chilton. How does his experience support the board, and what is the status of the new independent non-executive director?
Khan: I’m very pleased to have Shaun on the board. His experience and expertise are second to none. He previously led a pharmaceutical contract service provider to rapid growth across nearly 100 countries. That experience, plus his board and AIM market expertise, made him an ideal candidate. We believe his input will support our mid- and long-term growth goals.
Proactive: What should we expect from hVIVO for the remainder of 2025 and beyond?
Khan: As we said in July, we expect to recognise about £47 million in revenue for 2025. EBITDA loss should be a small single-digit number, which is an improvement from earlier guidance. I also expect an increase in our sales pipeline across all service lines. We’ve already seen evidence of new sales in both clinical and hLab lines. With normalisation of the human challenge trial market, we’re guiding towards returning to growth in 2026.
Proactive: Mo, thank you very much for speaking with us.