Aptamer Group plc (LON:APTA), the developer of next-generation synthetic binders for the life sciences industry, has announced £190,000 of new fee-for-service orders and £80,000 of cash licensing receipts, demonstrating sustained commercial momentum and the commencement of high-margin, recurring revenues from its Optimer® platform.
Repeat business from top-tier pharma partners
New Optimer® development agreements totalling £155,000 include a further contract with a top‑10 global pharmaceutical company, the second repeat programme with this partner in FY26 alone.
Contract extensions worth £35,000 have also been signed with this top‑10 partner and an additional top‑20 pharmaceutical company. These new and extended contracts mean Aptamer now has multiple, ongoing Optimer® programmes with leading industry players, demonstrating sustained adoption of the platform and a growing, diversified fee-for-service revenue base. The Optimers generated under these agreements will support a range of research applications for the Group’s pharmaceutical partners, further embedding Optimer® binders within customers’ development pipelines.
Optimer® development for novel fertility solutions
The Group has secured a second Optimer® discovery and development programme with a leading European medical research centre to generate a specialist anti-blood-clotting (anti-coagulant) Optimer® with a corresponding rapid reversal agent (antidote) for application in novel fertility solutions. Aptamer retains full intellectual property rights for the developed binders, creating potential for high-value downstream licensing and royalty revenues and broader commercial applications beyond the initial programme scope.
First cash licensing receipts from hot‑start PCR Optimer®
Aptamer has received its first cash licensing receipts totalling £80,000 from a non-exclusive hot‑start PCR Optimer® licence signed in December 2025. This milestone marks the transition of the Group’s growing licensing portfolio from signed agreements to cash-generative assets. The upfront element of this payment, totalling £75,000, will be recognised as revenue over the term of the agreement, in line with the Group’s accounting policies.
Based on current customer forecasts, this single licence is expected to contribute passive, high-margin income equivalent to around 15% of the Group’s annual overhead over the next three years, highlighting the operational leverage available as further licences are executed.
The Group continues to progress additional Optimer® licensing opportunities across diagnostics, life‑science tools and therapeutics, building a portfolio of royalty-bearing assets alongside its established fee-for-service business.
Strong financial position and growing visibility
The new signed contracts increase the total FY26 fee‑for‑service order book to over £2.1 million, compared with over £2.0 million as reported in the trading update on 7 January 2026. Combined with the developing portfolio of royalty-bearing licences, the Board’s visibility over FY26 revenue continues to strengthen. Together with current cash resources, this provides funding runway through to June 2027 and underpins management’s confidence in delivering further year-on-year revenue growth and continued progress towards cash‑flow break-even.
Dr Arron Tolley, Chief Executive Officer of Aptamer Group, commented:
“This is another step forward in building a higher‑quality, recurring revenue business. Repeat contracts with multiple top-tier pharmaceutical partners, combined with our first cash receipts from a non-exclusive Optimer® licence, demonstrate both the technical strength of the platform and the commercial value it is now delivering.
“With over £2.1 million of signed FY26 fee‑for‑service contracts, a growing pipeline of licensing opportunities and cash runway to at least June 2027, we are increasingly confident in our ability to continue delivering year‑on‑year revenue growth, expand high‑margin recurring income and further enhance the Group’s resilience for shareholders.”
