4BB 4basebio Plc

5 June 2024

4basebio Plc
("4basebio", the "Company" or the “Group”)

Final Results and Notice of AGM

The Board of 4basebio plc is pleased to report the results for the financial year ended 31 December 2023. 

The annual report and accounts together with a notice of the Company’s annual general meeting, which is to be held on 28 June 2024 at 9:00am in the offices of 4basebio plc are expected to be uploaded to the Company's website and posted to shareholders shortly.

The annual general meeting will be followed by a presentation from the Company through the Investor Meet Company platform on 2 July 2024 at 10am. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and register interest here: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/4basebio-plc/register-investor.

Highlights
 

• First sale of HQ synthetic DNA batch
• First order for GMP synthetic DNA
• Six novel patent filings
• Delivered over 25 customer projects during 2023
   

Overview

4basebio plc is a Cambridge, UK, AIM quoted holding and service company for the 4basebio group of companies (“the Group”), which includes manufacturing and research & development subsidiaries across Cambridge, UK and Madrid, Spain.

4basebio is a technology company, which is a market leader in the development and commercialisation of large scale manufacture of synthetic DNA as well as nanoparticle delivery solutions. The Group continues to expand its commercial platform.  Its customers are active in the cell & gene therapy and vaccine markets, across mRNA therapeutics and vaccines, AAV, gene editing and DNA vaccines. 

The Group‘s technology platforms offer its customers application specific product and performance benefits, with its synthetic DNA also benefitting from much faster turnaround times relative to incumbent plasmid DNA. It also continues to invest in research and development activities to further develop its platforms and expand its product offering, particularly focused on different DNA modalities including single stranded and circular synthetic DNA constructs.

Dr Heikki Lanckriet, CEO and CSO for 4basebio, said: “The evolution of the Group since its spin out from Germany at the end of 2020 has been profound.  Having scaled its DNA manufacturing from nanogram to multi-gram scale over this time, 4basebio fulfilled over 25 customer projects in 2023.

Further evidencing the Group’s accelerating commercial progress, 4basebio recently announced its client, HelixNano Technologies Inc. received approval of its mRNA vaccine product for first in human trials in Australia, which used 4basebio opDNA™ in the manufacture of the vaccine. The Group also announced the supply of HQ and GMP grade synthetic DNA into a tier one pharma company’s vaccine program.  

4basebio is now on the cusp of strong commercial growth and 2024 promises to be a very exciting year.”

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Chairman’s statement

Performance

During the course of 2023, 4basebio continued to scale up its commercial activities alongside ongoing product innovation.  The emphasis during the year was on its synthetic DNA platform, with the Group recognising revenue on approximately 25 customer projects including the sale of its first High Quality DNA; it also took receipt of orders for GMP grade product due for delivery in 2024.

The manufacture and sale of GMP (“Good Manufacturing Practice”) grade synthetic DNA is a significant milestone for 4basebio with the receipt of GMP orders an important step. While the Group’s journey to GMP has not been without its challenges, it is pleasing to reflect on the significant progress made. Evidence of the Group’s development also came in the form of its client, HelixNano Technologies Inc., announcing in March 2024 approval of its mRNA vaccine product for first in human trials in Australia.  4basebio opDNA™ was used in manufacturing the vaccine.

The Group also continued to develop its non-viral delivery platform, Hermes™.  As announced during the year, 4basebio received grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue a research program to further advance its nanoparticle platform with enhanced thermostability for use in infectious disease vaccine applications. 

Thermo-stability was an important consideration in the use of mRNA vaccines used during the Covid-19 epidemic.  Those vaccines required -80C freezer storage to remain effective, presenting significant logistical challenges and cost considerations in the distribution of vaccines for pandemic response.

Preliminary findings demonstrate the Hermes™ product offers superior particle stability at higher temperatures, a commercially significant consideration in the context of meeting future vaccine demands, particularly in countries where cold supply chain logistics are challenging.

Alongside these commercial developments, the Group continues to invest in its intellectual property. During 2023 and early 2024, six new patent applications were filed and this is expected to continue.  The Group now has 17 patent families around its DNA platform and a further four patent families centred on its Hermes™ technology.

It is important that the Group acts to protect its intellectual property. As a result it has pursued legal action in Spain to protect against infringement and/or misappropriation of its intellectual property. This has led to belated counter claims during the year which the Board and its legal advisors consider unfounded and without merit and is further described in note 26 to the financial statements.

With the objectives outlined above, the Group continued to invest during 2023 with a resultant net loss for the year of £7.7 million. 

Strengthening the Group’s commercial, client onboarding and operations teams was an important focus in the year, with overall headcount of 84 at year end. 

The Board is pleased with the commercial progress made during 2023 and believes 4basebio is well placed to grow revenues strongly in 2024. Nevertheless, 4basebio will remain loss making during 2024 and the Group will utilise its loan facility with 2Invest AG, a major shareholder and former parent company, to fund its activities. 

Strategy

4basebio’s principal objective is to become the leading provider of synthetic DNA products and non-viral delivery technology for the cell & gene therapy and vaccines markets.  The Board believes the Group is well placed to do this, with a combination of a uniquely flexible synthetic DNA technology alongside its nanoparticle platform, a key competitive differentiator.

The flexibility in its DNA platform has facilitated the development of application specific products, which offer valuable performance benefits over alternative solutions.  The overall objective is to continue developing and commercialising the most efficient and highest performant DNA products for each application. 

An excellent example of this is supply of DNA for mRNA production; for this market, 4basebio manufactures and supplies the requisite linearised open ended DNA, its opDNA™, required for in vitro transcription, the process of converting DNA into mRNA.  This compares highly favourably with other products which require a further step of linearisation (in the case of plasmid DNA) or de-ending (in the case of alternative synthetic DNA).

Alongside this, the Group has also focused on developing internal application relevant expertise, enabling the preparation and provision of data packages for prospective clients highlighting the benefits of 4basebio products in their specific field of application.

As a result, the Group has generated a breadth of highly relevant commercial data which it can share with customers.  It also means that 4basebio understands how its products will  perform in the hands of its customers, a key consideration in meeting customer expectations.

The Group continues to focus on working with each customer along their journey from research use through high quality batches and eventual GMP grade synthetic DNA.  As the customer progresses, so does the requirement for both higher quality and quantity of product. As customers advance through their therapeutic development programs, the Group expects significant revenues to be generated from these projects. 

Share Price

The share price opened the year at 710 pence and softened during the course of the year to recover in November and December, to close at 680 pence.  Trading volumes during the year represented approximately 4% of shares in issue, with a typical daily trading volume of 2,270 shares

At year end, approximately 70% of the Company’s shares were closely held between the Company’s largest shareholders and Board directors.  Whilst the Board has limited visibility on holdings below the reporting threshold of 3%, given shares are typically held in nominee accounts, the Board believes that a significant portion of the remaining shares is owned by long term shareholders.

People and Culture

As an innovative life sciences Group, 4basebio is science led, with over three-quarters of its workforce holding scientific degrees.  This has facilitated the rapid development of the Group’s technology platforms, as well as commercial and manufacturing teams.

The Group strives to maintain an open, informal and supportive organisational culture.  With the growth in headcount, maintaining the Group’s core values becomes ever more important and is a focus of staff at all levels of the organisation.

The Board would like to thank all staff for their commitment and dedication over the past year which has been instrumental in 4basebio’s continued progress.

Tim McCarthy
Chairman

Consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 December 2023

All of the loss for the year is from continuing operations.

Consolidated statement of financial position
  31 December 2023

Consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 31 December 2023

Consolidated statement of cash flows
  for the year ended 31 December 2023

Notes to the financial statements
 

1. General

4basebio plc (the “Company” or “4basebio”) is registered in England and Wales with company number 13519889.

The Company is domiciled in England and the registered office of the Company is 25 Norman Way, Over, Cambridge CB24 5QE.  4basebio plc is the parent of a group of companies (together, “the Group”).  The Group focuses on life sciences and in particular the development of synthetic DNA and nanoparticles suitable for inclusion in, or delivery of, therapeutic payloads for gene therapies and gene vaccines.

The Company trades on London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, having been admitted on 17 February 2021.  The international securities number (ISIN) number for its AIM traded shares is GB00BMCLYF79; its ticker symbol is 4bb.l.

The consolidated financial statements of 4basebio plc and its subsidiaries for the year ended 31 December 2023 were authorised for issue in accordance with a resolution of the directors on 4 June 2024.

2. Basis of preparation

The consolidated financial statements of 4basebio UK plc (or “the Group”) for the financial year ending 31 December 2023 have been prepared using UK adopted international accounting standards.

The consolidated financial statements comprise the results of 4basebio plc, 4basebio S.L.U., 4basebio UK Limited and 4basebio Discovery Limited for the whole year.

The above summary has been extracted from the report and financial statements and, accordingly, references to notes and page numbers may be incorrect. Shareholders are advised to read the full version of the report and financial statements which will be available from the Company’s website.

3. Earnings per share

The calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share for continuing operations was based on the weighted average number of shares as determined above. The numerator is defined as result after tax from continuing operations. The average number of share options outstanding during the period was 653,771 (2022: 642,878) which have not been included in the calculation of the diluted Earnings per share because they would be anti-dilutive since the business is loss making.

4. Approval of the financial statements

The financial statements were approved by the Board of directors and authorised for issue on 4 June 2024.