PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (“UK MAR”), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company’s obligations under Article 17 of UK MAR. The persons taking responsibility for this announcement are the Company contacts named below.
NIOX GROUP PLC
(“NIOX” or the “Company” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”)
PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022
Oxford, UK – 21 March 2023: NIOX Group plc (AIM: NIOX), a medical device company focused on point of care asthma diagnosis and management, today announces its unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2022.
Financial highlights
- Underlying revenue growth of 15% to £31.3 million (2021: £27.9 million) excluding a one-off revenue item of £0.6 million in China
- Profit before tax £2.4 million, excluding the benefit of the Beyond Air consideration of £8.1 million (2021: loss of £2.1 million)
- Group adjusted EBITDA2 at £7.3 million, ahead of upgraded consensus estimates (2021: £0.6 million in a transitional year)
- Net cash £19.4 million (31 December 2021: £12.6 million)
Financial progress
| 2022
|
2021 | |
| £m | £m | |
| Revenue | 31.3 | 27.9 |
| Gross margin | 71% | 68% |
| Total expenditure1 | (14.9) | (18.4) |
| Adjusted EBITDA2 | 7.3 | 0.6 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin | 23.3% | 2.2% |
| Operating profit/ (loss) | 1.8 | (4.3) |
| Beyond Air settlement consideration | 8.1 | – |
| Profit/ (loss) before tax | 10.5 | (2.1) |
| Profit for the year from discontinued operations | 2.0 | 1.3 |
| Profit for the financial year | 16.1 | 3.6 |
| Cash3 at year end | 19.4 | 12.6 |
| 1 Excludes depreciation, amortisation, impairment and share option charge.
2 Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, impairment and share option charge. 3 Includes cash and cash equivalents. |
||
Operational highlights
- Ongoing transition to distributor-led business model beginning to gather momentum with new arrangements in the USA and China expected to drive scalable revenue growth in 2023 and beyond.
- Maintained strong recurring revenue of 89% of £26.2 million of Clinical revenue.
- Good progress in the UK with initial sales into the primary care sector.
- Approval received from shareholders on 1 September 2022 to change the Company name from Circassia Group plc to NIOX Group plc reflecting the focus on NIOX® products.
- FDA approval for Beyond Air’s LungFit® PH device received on 28 June 2022, initiating total milestone payments of $10.5 million over three years ($2.5 million received in August 2022), with up to a further $6 million in potential royalty payments thereafter.
Post period end
- A Capital Reduction Scheme was concluded by filing an order of the High Court with the Registrar of Companies on 8 February 2023. The scheme was approved by shareholders on 6 October 2022 and a Court Order was approved on 8 November. The purpose of the Capital Reduction is to enable the Board to return surplus cash to shareholders via dividends and/or share buybacks, if considered appropriate in the future.
Ian Johnson, NIOX’s Executive Chairman, said: “2022 was a significant year for the Group with the business substantially right-sized and the implementation of a distributor-led sales strategy well underway. These initiatives gave rise to a much-reduced cost base and generated scalable revenue growth. The Group remains debt free and has significant cash resources to continue implementing its business strategy of accessing and promoting the benefits of its products to healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care, who diagnose and treat the large population of patients suffering from asthma. Significant progress was made in 2022 to sell NIOX® FeNO devices into primary care, and I am pleased to report that this is continuing into 2023.
The business has proved very resilient during both the Pandemic and the more recent global macroeconomic conditions. The high level of recurring revenues provides good visibility of earnings and together with high gross margins are delivering profitable growth. The Group has made a positive start to 2023 with revenues up 19% in the first two months of the year on the equivalent period in 2022. The Board believes that the strong business model will drive further top line growth and continue to deliver improved shareholder value going forward.”
Contacts
NIOX
Ian Johnson, Executive Chairman Tel: +44 (0) 1865 405 560
Michael Roller, Chief Financial Officer
Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Aubrey Powell/ Jen Boorer / Alex Emslie Tel: +44 (0) 20 7496 3000
About NIOX
Our mission is to improve asthma diagnosis and management by greater patient access to FeNO testing. Asthma is one of the biggest healthcare issues globally with 340 million sufferers, many of whom are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed The Group is engaged in the design, development, and commercialisation of medical devices for the measurement of FeNO, a biomarker of inflammatory asthma. Our market leading device, NIOX VERO®, is increasingly recognised by healthcare professionals as an important tool to improve the diagnosis and management of asthma. NIOX VERO® is also the device of choice by leading clinical research organisations for respiratory studies.
At present, NIOX provides products and services in around 50 countries. For more information, please visit www.niox.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains certain projections and other forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, businesses, and prospects of NIOX. The use of terms such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “project”, “estimate”, “intend”, “continue”, “target” or “believe” and similar expressions (or the negatives thereof) are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Any of the assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements could prove inaccurate or incorrect and therefore any results contemplated in the forward-looking statements may not actually be achieved. Nothing contained in this press release should be construed as a profit forecast or profit estimate. Investors or other recipients are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained herein. NIOX undertakes no obligation to update or revise (publicly or otherwise) any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or other circumstances.