Oxford Nanopore half-year loss narrows as costs fall, margin improves

Oxford Nanopore Technologies PLC on Wednesday backed a mid-term sales aspiration as it said improved cost control helped it deliver a narrower loss than the market expected.

The Oxford, England-based specialist in DNA and RNA sequencing technologies said its pretax loss shrank to £44.9 million in the six months ended June 30 from £69.0 million the year prior.

Adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation narrowed to £22.1 million from £48.3 million a year ago, beating market consensus for a £38.1 million loss.

The firm said improvement was driven by gross profit growth and disciplined cost control, with adjusted operating costs down 6.9% year-on-year and down 9.6% versus the second half of 2025.

Gross profit increased 18% to £72.6 million from £61.4 million at a margin of 62.2%, up from 58.2% a year ago.

Chief Executive Francis Van Parys said the firm is "tracking well towards adjusted Ebitda breakeven in FY27."

In response, shares in Oxford Nanopore rose 9.0% to 133.20 pence each in London on Wednesday, although they have fallen 36% in the last 12 months.

Revenue increased 11% to £116.7 million from £105.6 million, and by 12% at constant currency, matching lowered expectations provided in July.

Oxford Nanopore said regional performance was underpinned by strong growth in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, & India region, and the Americas, up 24% and 13% at constant currency respectively. This was partly offset by an 8.4% reduction in Asia Pacific, which reflected a 16% decline in China.

Growth was broad-based across customer end markets, with Clinical revenue increasing 35%, BioPharma 25%, Industrial 6.2% and Research 5.4%.

For 2026 as a whole, the company still expects constant currency revenue growth of 16% to 20%, and a gross margin of 62%. It now predicts adjusted operating costs to be flat to down 2% year-on-year compared with the previous guidance of 0% to 5% growth.

It projects positive free cash flow in 2028 and sticks with a 2030 revenue target of greater than USD700 million, around £517 million.

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