ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 249
5 February 2024
Interim report for the first half of 2023/24
Full-year guidance maintained despite continued challenging market conditions
Rasmus Kofoed, CEO: "Rasmus Kofoed, CEO: "In the second quarter, we saw early signs of market conditions improving within our key market area, cell-based therapy, but the investment climate remains subdued. Our revenue therefore continued to be under pressure, as expected, declining 15% year-on-year to DKK 108.1 million. Lower sales of instruments remained a drag on revenue, whereas sales of consumables and services both showed satisfactory growth.
In the first half of 2023/24, our sales initiatives were maintained at a high level with the aim of identifying new customers and generating additional sales to existing customers. Furthermore, we have focused strongly on planning the roll-out of our new XcytoMatic products to wider customer groups. We are seeing growing interest in our new XcytoMatic 40 (XM40) and XcytoMatic 30 (XM30) instruments. Combined with a strong underlying business and further product launches scheduled in 2024, this makes me confident that we will see gradual progress in the second half, while at the same time creating a solid platform for growth in the coming years. We therefore maintain our full-year revenue and EBITDA guidance".
Sales and operating results
- Revenue was down 15% in the second quarter of 2023/24 to DKK 108.1 million from DKK 126.8 million in the year-earlier period. In the first half of 2023/24, revenue was down 17% to DKK 199.3 million from DKK 240.6 million in the year-earlier period.
- Sales of instruments were down 37% in the second quarter from DKK 59.6 million to DKK 37.5 million, and down 43% in the first half from DKK 108.7 million to DKK 61.8 million. Sales of instruments accounted for 31% of total revenue in the first half, compared with 45% in the year-earlier period.
- Second-quarter revenue from the sale of consumables and services was up by 5% and 7%, respectively, and for the first half, the increase was 1% and 12%, respectively. For the first half, sales of consumables and services each accounted for 45% and 23% of total revenue, compared with 37% and 17% in the year-earlier period.
- Revenue in ChemoMetec's core business area, LCB (Life science research, Cell-based therapy and Bioprocessing), was down 21% for the second quarter and 19% for the first half. LCB market revenue accounted for 91% of total revenue in the first half.
- EBITDA for the second quarter fell by 36% to DKK 93.1 million, and the EBITDA margin was 48%, compared with 63% in the year-earlier period. EBITDA for the first half fell by 36% to DKK 145.2 million, and the EBITDA margin was 47%, compared with 60% in the year-earlier period.
- The weaker USD adversely affected both revenue and EBITDA in the first half of 2023/24. Assuming constant exchange rates, revenue was down by approximately 14% and EBITDA by approximately 32% in the first half.
- During the first half of 2023/24, our new XcytoMatic 40 (XM40) and XcytoMatic 30 (XM30) instruments enjoyed great attention and positive feedback. We still expect sales of the XM40 to grow steadily during the second half of 2023/24 and consequently to make a positive contribution to revenue for the financial year 2023/24.
- Developments in the first half were in line with expectations, and as the general market conditions are expected to remain highly uncertain, we maintain our full-year guidance for 2023/24 of revenue in the range of DKK 400-435 million and EBITDA in the range of DKK 200-220 million.
Conference call
The Company will host a conference call on Tuesday, 6 February at 11:00 a.m.
Rasmus Kofoed, CEO, and Niels Høy Nielsen, CFO, will present the interim report for the first half of 2023/24. Their presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.
The conference call will be conducted in English.
Link to the conference call: H1 2023/24 webcast and conference call
The interim report for the first half of 2023/24 is attached to this announcement.
Additional information
Rasmus Kofoed, CEO
Tel.: (+45) 26 72 68 19
Niels Høy Nielsen, CFO
Tel.: (+45) 25 51 87 24
About ChemoMetec A/S
ChemoMetec develops, manufactures and markets instruments for cell counting and a wide range of other measurements. ChemoMetec's instruments are marketed to the pharmaceutical, biotech and agricultural industries worldwide. ChemoMetec's customers include some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Novartis, Novo Nordisk, H. Lundbeck, Merck, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
ChemoMetec was founded in 1997 and is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange. For more information, go to www.chemometec.com
