Oxford Nanopore Technologies has more than halved its adjusted EBITDA loss while increasing revenue and gross margins, strengthening its route towards breakeven as chief executive Francis Van Parys concentrates investment on faster-growing commercial markets.
The Oxford-based molecular sensing company reported first-half revenue of £116.7m, up 10.5% from £105.6m a year earlier and 12.3% higher on a constant-currency basis.
Gross profit increased 18.2% to £72.6m, while gross margin rose from 58.2% to 62.2%. The adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed from £48.3m to £22.1m, and the statutory loss for the period reduced from £71.8m to £48m.
The financial improvement keeps Oxford Nanopore on its existing timetable to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven in 2027 and positive free cash flow in 2028.
Revenue growth was led by Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, where constant-currency sales rose 23.8%. The Americas increased 12.5%, while Asia-Pacific revenue declined 8.4%, including a 15.7% fall in China.
The weaker China performance reflects enhanced export controls and changes to Oxford Nanopore’s commercial operations in the market, adding a geopolitical constraint to a business whose equipment and technology are used internationally by researchers and life-science customers.
Growth was strongest in newer applied markets. Clinical revenue increased 35.4% to £17.6m, while BioPharma revenue rose 25% to £9.5m. Research remained the largest customer category at £76m, up 5.4%, and industrial revenue increased 6.2% to £13.7m.
The changing mix is central to Oxford Nanopore’s longer-term economics. The company built its reputation around research applications, but a larger contribution from regulated and repeatable clinical and pharmaceutical workflows could provide access to broader and more predictable commercial markets.
Oxford Nanopore uses nanopore-based sensing to analyse DNA, RNA, and other molecules. Its platform ranges from portable sequencing devices to higher-throughput systems, giving customers the ability to generate molecular data in academic, pharmaceutical, clinical, and industrial settings.
The PromethION product range generated £59.1m of first-half revenue, up 15.7%, while MinION revenue increased 4.3% to £28.8m. Devices and services delivered the fastest product-category growth, rising 32.6% to £37m.
Margin improvement reflects both operating execution and product economics. Oxford Nanopore cited better flow-cell yields, increased scale, and wider adoption of a newer pricing model among the factors lifting gross margin. The comparison also benefited from the absence of a £3.3m non-cash inventory charge recorded in the first half of 2025.
Cost discipline is running alongside that improvement. Research and development expenditure fell to £36.9m from £44.1m, while selling, general, and administrative expenses reduced to £86.4m from £95.1m.
Van Parys, who became chief executive in March, has completed an initial review of the business and is concentrating management attention on customer focus, prioritisation, execution, and applications with greater commercial potential.
Research customers still account for roughly two-thirds of revenue and remain important to adoption of the underlying technology. The commercial challenge is to use that scientific base to establish applications capable of scaling consistently across healthcare and pharmaceutical markets.
Oxford Nanopore is targeting more than $700m of annual revenue by 2030, with BioPharma and Clinical expected to take a larger share of the mix. Beyond that point, management has set a longer-term ambition to build annual revenue beyond $1bn.
A new global cross-licensing agreement announced with the results will provide an additional near-term contribution. Oxford Nanopore expects to recognise a $20m licensing fee during the second half of 2026, with a further $15m of committed product purchases across 2027 and 2028.
The agreement also provides a low-to-mid-single-digit net royalty on certain life-sciences and diagnostics products incorporating the licensed intellectual property for the life of the relevant patents.
Separately, Oxford Nanopore has signed an agreement with MyOme to incorporate its sequencing technology into the Zenith rare-disease platform within Natera’s portfolio. Executive appointments in medical and marketing functions are also intended to strengthen commercial execution as the company targets regulated markets.
Revenue growth alone is no longer the only measure of Oxford Nanopore’s progress. The investment case increasingly rests on whether stronger gross margins, lower operating losses, controlled expenditure, and faster growth from clinical and biopharma customers can translate scientific adoption into sustainable cash generation.
That places particular emphasis on the next set of financial milestones. The company must maintain second-half revenue momentum and margin improvement while continuing the product investment needed to broaden its commercial applications.
Reaching adjusted EBITDA breakeven in 2027 would mark an important shift in Oxford Nanopore’s development, with the following year’s free-cash-flow target providing the next test of whether its technology platform can generate returns alongside continued expansion.
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