On Wednesday, Biopharmaceutical New Technologies, commonly known as BioNTech SE (BNTX), reported a substantial decrease in its profitability for the fourth quarter compared to the previous year. This decline is largely attributed to the significantly reduced worldwide distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company also introduced its projection for group revenue for the full year of 2024.
In the pre-market trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday, the trading value of BNTX dropped by $4.89 (or 5.20%), bringing the price to $89.23.
For the fourth quarter, BioNTech reported a net profit of 457.9 million euros, equivalent to 1.90 euros per share. This is a stark decrease from the previous year's fourth quarter when the company reported a net profit of 2.28 billion euros or 9.26 euros per share.
Total revenue for the quarter also dropped sharply, from 4.28 billion euros the previous year to now 1.48 billion euros. The substantial decrease is mainly due to the drastically lower demand for COVID-19 vaccines.
The revenues of BioNTech were further impacted by inventory write-downs by its partner, Pfizer, Inc., leading to a reduction of 291.3 million euros for the quarter.
Despite the aforementioned challenges, the company was successful in delivering over 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses globally in 2023, inclusive of the successfully launched XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccine that's adapted to the variant.
BioNTech also noted that it plans to spend between 2.4 and 2.6 billion euros in research and development during the financial year of 2024.
Looking forward to the fiscal year 2024, the company now forecasts group revenues to be in the 2.5 to 3.1 billion euros range. BioNTech stated that its oncology pipeline currently comprises 10 ongoing phase 2 and 3 trials. By 2024, the company intends to continue broadening its pipeline towards its initial planned oncology rollout in 2026. By 2030, BioNTech is aiming to secure approvals for ten oncological indications.
In a separate announcement, BioNTech declared the appointment of Annemarie Hanekamp to the Management Board as the Chief Commercial Officer, effective from July 1, 2024. Hanekamp will be succeeding Sean Marett for this role, leaving her position at Novartis AG to join BioNTech.
Previously, Hanekamp played a critical role at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, steering the evolution of the company's oncology strategy in the U.S.
