14 December 2021 – Half-year Report

Yourgene Health plc

(“Yourgene” or the “Group” or the “Company”)

H1 revenues doubled year-on-year
Full year revenues to exceed already upgraded market expectations

Manchester, UK – 14 December 2021: Yourgene (AIM: YGEN), a leading integrated technologies and service group enabling the delivery of genomic medicine, announces its unaudited half-year report for the six months ended 30 September 2021 (“H1 FY22”). Unless otherwise stated, comparative data shown is for the six-month period ended 30 September 2020 (“H1 FY21”).

The first half of the financial year saw record performance as prior investment into clinical service lab capacity started to deliver a substantial return, with significant growth seen in both Genomic Technologies and Genomic Services business segments. The Board is confident that trading for the full year will remain robust and that full year revenues are therefore likely to exceed current market expectations, already upgraded previously in October.

Financial highlights

• Revenues increased by 113% to £17.5m (H1 FY21: £8.2m) with Genomic Services segment up 260% to £10.5m and Genomic Technologies segment up 32% to £6.9m
• Gross profit up 107% to £10.2m (H1 FY21: £4.9m)
• General administrative expenses up 55% to £8.1m (H1 FY21: £5.2m) including growth-focused expenditures on UK COVID-19 testing, continuation of the NIPT transition to IONA® Nx and expansion of strong US commercial personnel
• Adjusted EBITDA* of £2.1m (H1 FY21: loss of £0.3m)
• Cashflow neutral at operating level (H1 FY21: outflow £1.2m)
• Cash and cash equivalents as at 30 September 2021: £4.7m (31 March 2021: £7.0m)

Operational highlights

• IONA® Nx moving from transition phase to pipeline expansion and since year end has been installed as a CE-IVD or technology transfer in labs in the USA, Mexico, Singapore, Switzerland and Italy
• The Illumina-based IONA® Nx workflow has experienced overall good growth but has had to overcome some challenges with supply chain disruption and extended validation phases due to the transitions. These issues have now been fully resolved and confidence in the IONA® Nx workflow is stronger than ever.
• Concerns around COVID’s impact on supply chain resulted in customers carrying additional stock into H1 FY22 normalising for this affect shows that NIPT is stable through H1 FY22
• Successful attainment of earn-out milestones for the Coastal Genomics business acquired in H1 FY21, with $2m equity issued. Over performance due to contract wins with two US diagnostic majors of which Labcorp supported digital marketing campaigns with customer webinar in post-period end
• Expansion of geographical reach with indirect distribution channels strengthened in Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe
• DPYD chemo-toxicity assay revenues doubled as a result of strong domestic and international adoption and on track to be a £1m+ pa product
• COVID-19 testing service scaled significantly in the UK through a combination of public contracts and direct to consumer retail channels, generating c. £9m revenue, compared to £0.4m in H1 FY21. Public tender contract award in August 2021 for the UK National Microbiology Framework (COVID-19 testing) which delivered £0.6m revenues in the period, with a further £0.6m post period end. In addition, Clarigene® product sales contribute an additional £1.4m in the period (H1 FY21: £0.2m)

Post period end:

• DPYD adoption recommended in November 2021 by experts in Spain, the fifth such country to recognise the benefits of using a DPYD genotyping test to help identify cancer patients at risk of higher toxicity from DPD deficiency
• Expect to continue provision of COVID-19 testing to all our existing partners, both public and private until the end of Q4
• Further contract secured under National Microbiology Framework for COVID-19 sequencing, details to follow
• Coastal Genomics, acquired in August 2020, rebranded as Yourgene Health Canada as part of corporate integration and embedding the Ranger® technology as a core part of the Group’s broadened genomic technologies portfolio
• Commercial team further enhanced with new appointments in key regions including LATAM, Singapore and Taiwan

Genomic Services continues to expand the portfolio to include further tests in reproductive health and DPYD from Genomic Technologies, strengthening the integration between Technologies and Services.

Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer of Yourgene, commented:

“The strong performance in this first half is a testament to how we are able to take our core competencies from Genomic Technologies and Genomic Services offerings and react to market demands. The first half has seen this result in very substantial growth in COVID-19 testing where we have quickly mobilised our core lab services and scaled resources to meet this key need, and we have the ability to apply these core skills and capacity to other areas in due course.

“Whilst growth across non-COVID areas of the business is subdued, we are seeing reassuring signs of a return to growth across a number of our Genomic Technologies and Genomic Services portfolios, particularly following growing access for our sales teams in Europe and North America. We remain confident in the recovery of non-COVID-19 revenue streams to underpin longer-term growth prospects.

“It was a great pleasure to again be able to visit the USA and Canada recently, and I am as optimistic as ever about our prospects in the North American market. As we fill out our global footprint into Latin America and refresh our presence in the Middle East and Asia, we can truly say that Yourgene is now a globally integrated provider of leading genomic technologies and services.”

A presentation on the financial results and business outlook will be delivered by Lyn Rees, CEO, and Barry Hextall, CFO and via the Investor Meet Company platform and there will be an opportunity for investors to submit questions. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and register for the Yourgene Health meeting via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/yourgene-health-plc/register-investor

* Adjusted EBITDA is the operating profit/(loss) before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, and expenses shown separately disclosed on the face of the Income Statement

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation.
The Directors of the Company take responsibility for this announcement.

About Yourgene Health

Yourgene Health is an international molecular diagnostics group which develops and commercialises integrated genomic technologies and services enabling genomic medicine in over 60 territories. The group works in partnership with global leaders in DNA technology to advance diagnostic science and support precision medicine. 

Yourgene primarily develops, manufactures, and commercialises simple and accurate molecular diagnostic solutions, for reproductive health, precision medicine and now infectious diseases. The Group’s flagship products include non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for Down’s Syndrome and other genetic disorders, Cystic Fibrosis screening tests, invasive rapid aneuploidy tests, and a recent extension into the oncology space with DPYD genotyping.

Yourgene has a range of innovative DNA sample preparation platforms, and launched Yourgene Genomic Services in 2020, which has enabled Yourgene to offer a global laboratory service network equipped to provide high quality genetic testing and bioinformatics solutions and serve as a full life-cycle partner for clinical, research and pharmaceutical organisations to support partners at the preclinical, clinical, and post-market stages to develop, manufacture, obtain regulatory approval and commercialise new products and services. In addition, Yourgene Genomic Services offers an NIPT and high throughput COVID-19 testing service. These capabilities [are also being/will begin to be / will be] made available for Non-COVID health testing.

In August 2020, Yourgene acquired Coastal Genomics, Inc., a sample preparation technology company based in Vancouver, Canada, enabling the Company to extend its offering and IP portfolio in the DNA sample preparation sector. The acquisition increased Yourgene’s geographical penetration into the US and Canada, supplementing existing coverage in the UK, Europe, MEA and Asia.

Yourgene Health is headquartered in Manchester, UK with offices in Taipei, Singapore, the US and Canada, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market under the ticker “YGEN”. For more information visit www.yourgene-health.com and follow us on twitter @Yourgene_Health.