Oxford Biomedica PLC said interim revenue jumped 139% and announced an investment by Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India.
The gene and cell therapy group said revenue in the second half will stay at similar levels to the six months just ended, due to the COVID-19 vaccine agreement with AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN).
New customer partnerships such as with Juno/ BMS and Beam are also expected to drive growth, with more deals to be unveiled.
Group operating underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the second half will be above last year’s levels, though below the first-half figure due to extra costs for research and development, administrative and bioprocessing.
In the six months ended 30 June, revenue rocketed 139% to £81mln, with operating EBITDA of £27mln from a £400,000 loss a year ago. Cash at period-end was £61mln.
Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India invested £50mln in exchange for shares representing 3.9% of the FTSE 250 group.
The proceeds will be used to fund the development of the fallow area at OxBox, the firm's manufacturing facility based in Oxford, UK, into a flexible advanced manufacturing space expected to come online in mid-2023.
“Serum Institute of India has played a big part in the fight against COVID-19, as have we, and we look forward to a strong and collaborative relationship,” said chief executive John Dawson.
“This investment will allow us to expand capacity at OxBox at a time when our business development pipeline has never looked stronger, and in addition, we expect this will create up to 120 new, highly skilled, jobs.”
Analysts at Liberum said that Oxford Biomedica will end the year “in an extremely strong financial position”.
“As the company pivots to an all-vector model we would expect an acceleration in deal activity, with a good balance of internal and external relationships. At some stage this will likely require further development of OxBox, which the company can comfortably fund from internal resources,” the broker commented.
Shares jumped 5% to 1,550.56p on Wednesday morning.