Chippenham, UK – 21 May 2014: Vectura Group plc (LSE: VEC) (“Vectura”), which specialises in the development of products for the treatment of airway-related diseases, announces today its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2014.
Financial Highlights
Strong financial performance
- Revenues up 20% at £36.5m (2012/13: £30.5m)
- Positive EBITDA1 of £5.2m (2012/13: loss of £3.4m)
- Loss before tax decreased by 54% to £4.8m (2012/13: £10.4m)
- Balance sheet strength maintained with cash and cash equivalents of £81.7m (£70.1m at 31 March 2013)
Operational Highlights
Significant progress on respiratory programmes
• Seebri® Breezhaler® (glycopyrronium bromide, NVA237) approved in over 60 countries, including EU, Japan, Canada and Australia
o Q1 2014 net sales of $30m; 12 months to 31 March 2014 of $82m (Source: Novartis)
• Ultibro® Breezhaler® (indacaterol/glycopyrronium bromide, QVA149) launched in seven countries to date and approved in over 30, including EU, Japan, Canada and Australia
o Q1 2014 net sales of $14m; total of $20m since launch (Source: Novartis)
• Approvals of GSK’s BREO™ ELLIPTA™ and ANORO™ ELLIPTA™ signalled new royalty streams
Breakthrough for generic respiratory products
• AirFluSal® Forspiro® (VR315) approved in Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Norway, Bulgaria and South Korea; product now launched in most of these markets
• VR315 development in the US continues to make progress; additional milestone received
• FDA guidelines were a positive step for development of inhaled generics in the US
Pipeline augmented
• Acquisition of Activaero GmbH strengthens development pipeline and enhances technology offering
• Initiated co-development deal with UCB for a novel molecule (VR942) currently at the pre-clinical stage
• The establishment of Kinnovata JV formed in China; extracting additional value from our mature assets.
Kinnovata joint venture is still awaiting formal completion. Final local Government approval expected later in 2014, upon which an exceptional non-cash gain will be recognised.
Other highlights
• Placing completed 13 March 2014 and raised gross proceeds of £52m
• Two changes to the Board during the year:
o Jack Cashman retired as Non-executive Chairman of the Board and Bruno Angelici was appointed as Non-executive Chairman in February 2014
o July 2013, Anne Hyland stepped down as Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary and Paul Oliver was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Post-period event
• US launch of ANORO™ ELLIPTA™ triggered a £2m milestone associated with a licence agreement with GSK
Dr Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive of Vectura:
“The past year has been very significant for Vectura, driven by the tremendous progress made from the approvals and commercialisation of partnered assets and in the acquisition of Activaero. Looking ahead, we anticipate the continued commercialisation of Seebri® Breezhaler®, Ultibro® Breezhaler® and AirFluSal® Forspiro®, which will augment our growing royalty streams. We are determined to create further value in our Company and believe we are well-placed with our strategy to build a specialty pharmaceutical company focussed on airways-related diseases.”
1 Earnings before investment income, finance (costs) / gains, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share-based compensation and adjusted for non-recurring expenditure items Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive and Paul Oliver, Chief Financial Officer, will host an analyst briefing today at 9.30am BST at the offices of FTI Consulting, 200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD. A live webcast of the meeting, with the presentation slides, will be available on Vectura’s website: http://www.vectura.com/investors/reports-presentations/2014.aspx. For further details please contact Victoria Foster-Mitchell at FTI on +44(0)20 3077 0486.
Enquiries
Vectura Group plc +44 (0)1249 667700
Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive
Paul Oliver, Chief Financial Officer
Karl Keegan, Chief Corporate Development Officer
FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 3727 1000
Ben Atwell / John Dineen
About Vectura
Vectura is a product development company that focuses on the development of pharmaceutical therapies for the treatment of airways-related diseases (airways diseases). This growing market includes asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is estimated to be worth in excess of $46 billion worldwide.2 Vectura has eight products marketed by its partners and a portfolio of drugs in clinical development, a number of which have been licensed to major pharmaceutical companies. Vectura has disclosed development collaborations and licence agreements with several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Novartis, Sandoz (the generics arm of Novartis), Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, Ablynx, Grifols and Tianjin KingYork Group Company Limited. Vectura seeks to develop certain programmes itself where this will optimise value. Vectura’s formulation and inhalation technologies are available to other pharmaceutical companies on an out-licensing basis where this complements Vectura’s business strategy. For further information, please visit Vectura’s website at www.vectura.com.
2 Pharmaview Commercial Landscape Series Respiratory Decision Resources 2014
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development and commercialisation of products. Various risks may cause Vectura’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programmes; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialise products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialisation activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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