BioNTech Swings To Profit In Q4

Immunotherapy company Biopharmaceutical New Technologies or BioNTech SE (BNTX) announced Wednesday a profit for the fourth quarter compared to a loss last year, driven by the continued global delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company also reiterated its COVID-19 vaccine revenue guidance for the full-year 2022.

In Wednesday’s pre-market trading, BNTX was trading at $181.84, up $9.45 or 5.36 percent.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported a net profit of 3.17 billion euros or 12.18 euros per share, compared to a net loss of 366.9 million euros or 1.43 euros per share in the prior-year quarter.

Total revenues for the quarter surged to 5.53 billion euros from 345.4 million euros in the same quarter last year, mainly due to the high demand for BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.

BioNTech and Pfizer have shipped about 2.6 billion doses of Comiraty/BNT162b2 to more than 165 countries and regions worldwide in 2021, including more than 1 billion doses to low- and middle-income countries.

BioNTech’s commercial revenues of 5.53 billion euros included 4.58 billion euros of gross profit share from COVID-19 vaccine sales in Pfizer’s territories and 43.8 million euros of sales milestones.

BioNTech’s share of the collaboration partners’ gross profit is based on COVID-19 vaccine sales in Pfizer’s and Fosun Pharma’s territories and represents a net figure.

As of the beginning of March 2022, BioNTech and Pfizer delivered more than 3.1 billion doses of BNT162b2 to more than 170 countries and regions around the world, including more than 1.3 billion doses to low- and middle-income countries as part of the commitment towards equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines globally. They have also signed orders for approximately 2.4 billion doses in 2022.

The company noted that it expects to spend 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion euros in R&D during the 2022 financial year, which represents an increase of about 50% compared to 2021.

The company also expects to initiate a share repurchase program of up to $1.5 billion over the next two years and will propose a special cash dividend of 2.00 euro per share, pending approval at the Annual General Meeting.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2022, the company reiterated its BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine revenue guidance in the range of 13 billion to 17 billion euros. Signed orders for 2022 delivery increased to 2.4 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Meanwhile, the company initiated expansion of Phase 3 clinical trials to include Omicron-based vaccine candidates, and expanded mRNA vaccine pipeline. It is also focused on driving further transformation in 2022 by reinvesting COVID-19 vaccine profits to accelerate oncology and infectious disease programs, broaden pipeline and scale-up business.

Apart from mRNA-based immunotherapies, cell therapies, and bi-specific antibodies, BioNTech is also investing in its second growth pillar, infectious diseases, and intend to advance its influenza and shingles vaccine candidates together with its partner Pfizer.

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