Maxcyte Inc (LON:MXCT) has said its full-year revenues are on track to be modestly ahead of current market expectations.
The group said the first half of the year saw strong revenue growth driven by high-margin recurring annual fees from its cell therapeutics business, instrument sales and clinical milestone payments.
Excluding its investment in its CARMA Cell Therapies subsidiary, the cell-based therapies and life sciences company saw underlying earnings (EBITDA) turn positive at US$0.6mln in the first half of 2020, compared to a loss of US$1.4mln the year before.
Maxcyte’s investment in CARMA shrank by 21.7% to US$5.2mln from US$6.6mln in the first half of 2019.
The post-tax loss narrowed to US$6.1mln from US$9.5mln the year before, or US$0.9mln (2019: US$2.0mln loss) excluding the investment in CARMA.
Revenue surged by 30.1% to US$10.9mln from the previous year’s US$8.4mln while the gross margin improved by 2.2 percentage points to 89.7%, thanks largely to an increase in clinical milestone revenues.
Cash and cash equivalents, including short-term investments, stood at US$38.2mln at the end of June, up 156.0% from US$14.9mln a year earlier.
"MaxCyte has delivered strong positive momentum during the first half of 2020, building on the growth reported in 2019, reflecting its position as a leader in the field of advanced therapies and a trusted partner-of-choice for cell therapy developers,” Doug Doerfler, the chief executive officer of Maxcyte said in the results statement.
“Our full-year 2020 revenue outlook has improved from the initial uncertainty outlined in April, although the ongoing COVID pandemic still limits visibility. As a result, we now expect to report revenues for the full-year 2020 at least modestly ahead of prior market expectations,” Doerfler revealed.
“In addition, the outlook for 2021 continues to strengthen significantly, due to our current progress and our partners' on-going advancement towards milestone events in the coming year. We remain highly confident in the strength and resilience of our business model, and in the prospects for continued growth, particularly as our growing number of partners advance their clinical programmes," he added.
Shares in Maxcyte started the year trading at around 125p and are now quoted at about 335p.