Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc (LON:ONT), the company behind a new generation of molecular sensing technology based on nanopores, has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.
Gordon Sanghera, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“We delivered a strong first half performance, with broad-based growth across all geographies and customer segments. Revenue grew ahead of expectations, driven by increasing demand in both Research and Applied markets and further adoption of our high-output PromethION platform by customers across a wide range of applications. We also made clear progress on our path to profitability, with improved EBITDA performance reflecting expanding gross profit and disciplined cost control.
“At the same time, we made good progress against our strategic priorities. We continued to innovate, enhancing our product performance and workflow simplification, while extending our multiomic capabilities to provide even richer genetic insights. We also entered into a new partnership with Cepheid to develop automated infectious disease sequencing solutions, while strengthening operations and refining our commercial strategy to target high-priority applications. With this momentum, we remain on track to deliver our 2025 guidance and are confident in our medium-term targets.”
Summary financial performance[1]
| £ millionUnless otherwise stated | H12025 | H12024 | Changereported | ChangeCC[2] |
| Revenue | 105.6 | 84.1 | 25.6% | 28.0% |
| Gross profit | 61.4 | 49.5 | 24.0% | |
| Gross margin | 58.2% | 58.8% | (60)bps | |
| Adjusted EBITDA[3] | (48.3) | (61.7) | +13.4 | |
| Loss for the period | (71.8) | (74.7) | +2.9 |
H1 Financial highlights
· Revenue of £105.6 million grew by 28.0% on a constant currency basis (CC), up 25.6% on a reported basis, ahead of expectations.
· Revenue growth delivered in all regions, led by APAC and EMEAI, up by 38.3% CC and 32.7% CC respectively year-on-year. Despite ongoing uncertainty in the US research environment, revenue in the Americas grew by 16.9% CC underpinned by increasing demand in Applied markets.
· Growth was delivered across all customer end markets; revenue grew by 52.9% in Clinical, 27.4% in Applied Industrial, 18.5% in BioPharma and 22.1% in Research.
· Revenue grew fastest across the PromethION product range[4] up 59.6% year-on-year. The MinION product range[5] declined by (3.1)% and Other revenue, which includes kits, services and other devices, grew by 14.2%.
· Gross margin decreased by 60 basis points (bps) to 58.2% (H1 2024: 58.8%). Underlying margin improvements +525bps were driven by targeted margin expansion initiatives and boosted by increased adoption of the new pricing model. However, these gains were offset by a one-off non-cash inventory charge in H1 of £3.3 million (-315bps), mix (-195bps) and currency headwinds (-80bps).
· Adjusted EBITDA improved year-on-year and sequentially to £(48.3) million, compared with £(61.7) million in H1 2024 and £(56.2) million in H2 2024. This was primarily driven by increased gross profits and disciplined control of the cost base. Adjusted operating costs were up 1.3% against H1 2024 but down by 2.2% compared to H2 2024.
· Reduction in loss year-on-year to £(71.8) million (H1 2024: £(74.7) million), reflecting the improvement in EBITDA loss.
· Strong balance sheet position; cash, cash equivalents and other liquid investments of £337.3 million[6] as at 30 June 2025, compared to £403.8 million as of 31 December 2024. Cash flow is improving driven by adoption of the new pricing model and a higher proportion of capex purchases by customers, which has reduced the cash impact from devices being leased to customers to £5.5 million in H1 2025 from £14.4 million in H1 2024.
H1 Operational and Strategic highlights
· Broad-based, diversified growth: Strong performance across all geographies and customer segments, driven by growing customer demand and adoption of the revised pricing model, underlining the resilience and diversity of the Group’s revenue base.
o Research customers: Large research and national programmes advanced, with NIHR Bioresource scaling sequencing activity and UK Biobank completing its pilot phase. The PRECISE programme was completed in Singapore, delivering 10,200 genomes. Genomics England’s Cancer 2.0 programme concluded, demonstrating utility in structural and epigenetic analysis. Adoption broadened across disease research, RNA, methylation and single-cell applications.
o Applied customers: Growth in Clinical markets was driven by broader adoption in oncology and rare disease, including expanded use in rapid CNS tumour classification, methylation-based tumour profiling and new data in paediatric leukaemia demonstrating improvements in detection, cost and turnaround times. BioPharma expanded quality control use cases, including deployment by a major European manufacturer, while Industrial markets saw wider use in synthetic biology.
· Clinical collaborations: New strategic partnership with Cepheid, a subsidiary of Danaher, to develop and commercialise automated infectious disease sequencing solutions.
· Innovation: Progress against 2025 goals, including improved basecalling performance, real-time methylation detection, simplified workflows for over 20 applications to support broader usage, enhanced direct RNA sequencing with multiplexing to support breakthrough science, and pioneering early progress in proteomics.
· Scientific publications: Approximately 2,000 peer-reviewed papers published in the first half (18,000 to date[7]), demonstrating the utility of Oxford Nanopore unique benefits and traction in scientific research, spanning cancer, human genetics and infectious disease, and demonstrating the potential for future diagnostic use.
· Operational excellence: Expanded manufacturing and logistics capacity and introduced next-generation automated flow cell lines and optimised processes to enhance product stability and scalability. Strengthened quality assurance to ISO 13485 standards to support future regulated product lines. Completed operational efficiency programme with ~5% reduction in workforce and other cost savings of a similar amount allowing for the reallocation of capital to high-priority growth areas.
· Strategic Planning and Execution: Refined Commercial Strategy identified high-priority opportunities in Applied and Research markets worth 13 to 14 billion USD, where Oxford Nanopore is well positioned to compete, underpinned by the unique features and benefits of the technology. Detailed, go-to-market strategies are being developed, supported by targeted product development and partnership initiatives. Further details on the refinement of the Corporate Strategy to be disclosed at future investor events in Q4 2025.
Updates post period end
· As announced, on 11 August, Gordon Sanghera will step down as Chief Executive Officer and from the Board by the end of 2026, after more than 20 years in the role. A search for a successor, to lead the next phase of growth and commercialisation, is underway.
· The Group also notes that co-founder Spike Willcocks has left the business after 20 years, during which he served as Chief Strategy Officer for four years. The commercial team will report to Nick Keher, CFO, on an interim basis.
FY25 and medium-term guidance on track:
· 2025 (no change): Revenue growth of 20-23% on a constant currency basis, gross margin of ~59%, and adjusted operating expense growth of 3-4%.
· Medium-term (no change): Expect to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven in FY27 and be cash flow positive in FY28, driven by more than 30% revenue CAGR (FY24-FY27) at constant currency, gross margin above 62% in FY27, and disciplined operating expense growth of 3-8% (FY24-FY27).
See the business review section for further detail.
Presentation of results
Management will host a conference call and webcast today, 2 September, at 8:30am BST. For details, and to register, please visit https://nanoporetech.com/about-us/investors/reports. The webcast will be recorded and a replay will be available via the same link shortly after the presentation. For further details please contact [email protected]
[1] Certain numerical figures included herein have been rounded. Therefore, discrepancies between totals and the sums may occur due to such rounding.
[2] Constant currency (CC) applies the same rate to the H1 25 and H1 24 non-GBP results based on H1 24 rates.
[3] Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure that may be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, or superior to, information presented in accordance with IFRS. Adjusted EBITDA is the EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) adjusted for i) Share-based payment expense on founder LTIP ii) Employers’ social security taxes on pre-IPO awards, and iii) Restructuring costs. In order to reflect the core performance of the business management has redefined Adjusted EBITDA to also exclude the impacts of Other gains and losses as well as Results from associates.
Adjusted EBITDA for the six months to 30 June 2024 has been restated to a loss of £61.7 million (previously a £61.6 million loss) and H2 2024 to a loss of £56.2 million (previously a loss of £54.5 million) – see note 5.
[4] The PromethION product range includes all PromethION devices (P2S, P2i, P24 and P48) and PromethION Flow Cells
[5] The MinION product range includes all MinION and GridION devices and MinION Flow Cells
[6] Cash, cash equivalents and other liquid investments includes cash and cash equivalents, and investment bonds
[7] Cumulative publications as at 30 June 2025. Note: The methodology for identifying and categorising publications has been transitioned to a new system that provides greater consistency, broader coverage and cost efficiencies, better supporting our ongoing needs. As a result of this change the prior year numbers have been restated. At 31 December 2024, cumulative publications totalled more than 16,000.
