A photo shows the company logo at Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic’s headquarters in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen.
Liselotte Sabroe | Afp | Good pictures
Shares of Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic rose more than 12% in early deals on Thursday after it reported stronger-than-expected earnings and reported a bumper vaccine order from an unnamed European country amid the ongoing mpox outbreak.
Bavarian Nordic reported Second-quarter revenue came in at 1.43 billion Danish kroner ($213 million) and operating profit of 420 million kroner, ahead of analysts’ expectations cited by Reuters.
Shares were up 11.3% by 9:44 a.m. London time.
A Report On Wednesday, the company said it had won a contract for 440,000 doses of mpox and smallpox vaccines to an undisclosed European country.
The order was planned as part of Bavarian Nordic’s original 2024 guidance and will not affect remaining capacity this year, the company said.
This comes after the World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency following its spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring countries.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Chaplin said the order comes from some countries citing the need for greater preparedness following an earlier outbreak in 2022.
“Since the last outbreak of mpox in 2022/23, Bavarian Nordic has established strong strategic partnerships with several authorities who have recognized the need to improve their preparedness against smallpox and mpox,” he said in a statement.
He said the company still has the capacity to deliver 10 million doses of vaccine by the end of next year, two million of which will be available this year.
All vaccines under the 440,000 order contract will be delivered by 2024, bringing the total value of secured contracts in the general product business to close to DKK 3 billion, the company said.
Therefore, Bavarian Nordic said it could confirm its new guidance at the upper end of its range, with total revenue of approximately DKK 5.3 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of approximately DKK 1.35 billion.
