Bioventix (LON: BVXP) kept its full-year dividend at 150p and edged profit higher in the year to the 30th of June, even as sales of its core vitamin D antibodies shrank. The AIM-listed Farnham company makes sheep monoclonal antibodies, lab-made proteins used in diagnostic tests, and reported before the market opened today.
The shares were down 4.43% at 1,911.4p at 09:31 London time, on a delayed quote, against a previous close of 2,000p. They opened at 1,952p and have ranged between 1,802p and 2,050p so far today. The company described the results as slightly ahead of market expectations.
Revenue was £12.97m against £13.12m a year earlier, while pre-tax profit rose to £10.23m from £10.10m. Basic earnings per share were 145.74p, compared with 145.27p. Currency cut turnover by about £300k; at last year’s exchange rates, revenue would have been £13.3m.
The dividend is a 70p first interim plus an 80p second interim, matching last year’s total. The second payment goes ex-dividend on the 5th of November and is paid on the 20th of November.
Underneath, the main product line is eroding. Sales of the vitamin D antibody fell 4% to £6.35m, China remains weak with further decline expected, and a progesterone contract worth about £400k a year has ended.
The business generated about £8m of cash and returned almost all of it as dividends, £7.84m paid in the year, leaving cash of £5.26m. A shrinking core therefore matters for a payout that absorbs nearly everything the company earns.
The growth hope is Alzheimer’s. Royalties on Tau antibodies, used in blood tests for the disease, tripled to £257k from £75k, roughly 2% of revenue. They come from research-use-only tests at three newer platform companies, with a Gothenburg partner. US regulatory approval is needed before any such test can be sold.
Two further antibodies move into production in the final quarter of this calendar year. The company expects the year to the 30th of June 2027 to follow a similar pattern. Chief executive Peter Harrison and chairman I J Nicholson, in their joint statement, said:
The timing of that growth is difficult to forecast but our level of confidence in the opportunity is undiminished.
Peter Harrison, chief executive, and I J Nicholson, chairman, Bioventix