Automated analysis from the Aleth AI Corpus · primary release

Summary

Revenue landed in line with the July pre-close at £116.7m, +10.5% reported / +12.3% constant currency, with the same geographic split: EMEAI and AMR grew, while China and the prior-year Singapore programme pulled APAC lower.

The more material change versus the trading update is the disclosed profit progression. Gross margin rose 400bps to 62.2% and the adjusted EBITDA loss more than halved to £(22.1)m from £(48.3)m, helped by gross-profit growth and adjusted operating costs falling 6.9% year-on-year.

Management also made the July licensing support explicit. An unnamed global diagnostics company will pay a $20m non-recurring cross-licence fee, recognised in H2 FY26 at 100% gross margin, plus $15m of committed product purchases across FY27-28 and a low-to-mid-single-digit royalty.

FY26 underlying CC revenue guidance remains 16-20% excluding the fee; including it, headline guidance is now framed as 23-27% CC. FY27 adjusted EBITDA breakeven and FY28 positive free cash flow remain unchanged. New 2030 targets are revenue above $700m and adjusted EBITDA margin above 15%.

Headline financials

£m unless stated            │   H1 2026 │       H1 2025 │ Change
----------------------------+-----------+---------------+------------------------------
Revenue                     │     116.7 │         105.6 │ +10.5% reported / +12.3% CC
Gross profit                │      72.6 │          61.4 │ +18.2%
Gross margin                │     62.2% │         58.2% │ +400bps
Adjusted EBITDA             │    (22.1) │        (48.3) │ +£26.2m
Loss from operations        │    (50.7) │        (77.8) │ +£27.1m
Loss for the period         │    (48.0) │        (71.8) │ +£23.8m
Cash and liquid investments │     234.5 │ 302.8 at FY25 │ (68.3) since year-end

Revenue mix

By customer end-market

End-market │ H1 2026 revenue │ Share of group │ Growth
-----------+-----------------+----------------+--------
Research   │          £76.0m │          65.1% │ +5.4%
Clinical   │          £17.6m │          15.1% │ +35.4%
Industrial │          £13.7m │          11.7% │ +6.2%
BioPharma  │           £9.5m │           8.1% │ +25.0%

• Clinical remained the fastest-growing end-market and BioPharma also grew well, but Research still supplied almost two-thirds of group revenue.

• Research absorbed an approximately £4.7m headwind from completed Genomics England and NIHR programmes.

• Clinical conversion was slowed in places by reimbursement, competitive pricing, evidence requirements and product timing.

• BioPharma by validation, contracting, product availability and customer capital constraints.

By region

Region │ H1 2026 revenue │ Reported growth │ CC growth
-------+-----------------+-----------------+----------
EMEAI  │          £55.6m │          +24.7% │    +23.8%
AMR    │          £39.1m │           +8.6% │    +12.5%
APAC   │          £22.0m │          (11.6)% │    (8.4)%

• China declined 15.7%, reflecting export controls and changes to commercial operations. ONT says China remains strategically important and that steps are under way to return it to growth in 2027.

• APAC also carried a £3.6m prior-year headwind from completion of Singapore’s PRECISE II programme.

• AMR included £0.9m of shipments that slipped into July, a 2.5% growth impact, alongside continued US research-funding pressure.

By product

• PromethION £59.1m, +15.7%, driven mainly by P2i demand. PromethION Flow Cell volume rose by more than 20%.

• MinION range £28.8m, +4.3%.

• Other revenue £28.9m, +7.4%.

• Devices and Services £37.0m, +32.6%; Consumables £79.7m, +2.7%. Consumables were held back by completed large research projects and China.

Margin, costs and cash

• The 400bps gross-margin increase comprised 305bps of underlying benefit from Flow Cell yields, scale and adoption of the new pricing model, plus 315bps from non-recurrence of H1 2025’s £3.3m inventory charge, offset by product mix (160bps) and FX (60bps).

• ONT disclosed gross margin of approximately 75% for Consumables and 34% for Devices & Services, versus approximately 64% and 23% respectively in FY2023.

• Adjusted operating costs fell 6.9% year-on-year and 9.6% versus H2 2025. Average headcount fell 0.8% to 1,314: R&D headcount fell 11.9% to 450, while Production rose 13.1% to 190 and SG&A rose 4.3% to 674.

• Total R&D investment fell 16.0% to £43.0m. Of this, £24.0m was capitalised and £17.9m of prior capitalised development was amortised; adjusted R&D expense was £36.9m.

• Cash and liquid investments fell £68.3m to £234.5m. Net operating cash outflow was £42.8m, including a £24.2m working-capital outflow and £25.7m of FY25 bonus payments. Capitalised development cash spend was £24.5m.

Strategy reset and post-period developments

CEO Francis Van Parys’s initial review produced four operating priorities:

1. Customer-centric growth in selected high-value BioPharma, Clinical and Research applications.

2. Focused innovation that turns technology leadership into dependable, scalable products and workflows.

3. Disciplined execution through portfolio simplification, clearer ownership, manufacturing quality and return-on-investment controls.

4. High-performance culture, including deeper regulatory and GMP-ready capabilities.

Other developments:

• Global diagnostics cross-licence: $20m fee in H2 FY26, $15m committed purchases over FY27-28, plus a low-to-mid-single-digit net royalty for the life of the relevant patents. Counterparty and licensed IP were not identified.

• MyOme/Natera: agreement to incorporate ONT sequencing into MyOme’s Zenith rare-disease platform.

• GridION Dx: first ONT IVD device registered in the UK and Europe (CE and UKCA).

• Leadership: Davide Manissero joined as Chief Medical Officer in August; Conor McKechnie is due to join as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer in October.

Outlook (company guidance)

• FY26 revenue: +16-20% CC excluding the $20m fee; approximately +23-27% CC including it.

• FY26 gross margin: approximately 62% excluding the fee; approximately 64% including it.

• FY26 adjusted operating costs: (2)% to 0% year-on-year, tightened from 0-5% growth.

• FY27: adjusted EBITDA breakeven.

• FY28: positive and growing free cash flow.

• 2030: revenue above $700m, based on organic CC growth of approximately mid-teens and accelerating from an FY26 base excluding the fee; adjusted EBITDA margin above 15%.

• Longer term: ambition for annual revenue above $1bn.

Read-through and what to watch

The results confirm the July revenue shortfall but show a materially stronger cost and margin response than the pre-close disclosed. The quality distinction in FY26 guidance is now measurable: the cross-licence is non-recurring, carries 100% gross margin and accounts for the gap between the 16-20% underlying range and the 23-27% headline range. The core business still requires a substantially stronger H2, while the licence makes reported revenue, gross margin and EBITDA look better without representing recurring product demand.

Key follow-ups:

• identity of the diagnostics counterparty, scope of the licensed IP and potential royalty base;

• delivery of the H2 product-revenue acceleration behind the 16-20% underlying range;

• whether China returns to growth in 2027 as management intends;

• conversion of Clinical and BioPharma evaluations into scaled, recurring consumable demand;

• cash conversion after the seasonal H1 working-capital and bonus outflows; and

• how much of continued product development is expensed versus capitalised as ONT approaches FY27 breakeven.

Relevance

For Oxford Nanopore, this is the first full results presentation under Van Parys and the first quantified strategy reset. It preserves the applied-market thesis, demonstrates real manufacturing and cost progress, and makes the non-recurring support to FY26 guidance explicit. The new 2030 framework raises the medium-term test from reaching breakeven to sustaining mid-teens growth while moving the mix toward Clinical and BioPharma.

Read the primary RNS release. Figures and targets are company-stated; the interim financial statements were independently reviewed, not audited. Derived interpretation is identified as such. Not investment advice.