On May 27, 2021 Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA, OTC: BVNRY) reported its interim financial results and business progress for the first three months of 2021 (Press release, Bavarian Nordic, MAY 27, 2021, View Source [SID1234580702]).

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Paul Chaplin, President & Chief Executive Officer of Bavarian Nordic said: "It has been an eventful quarter for Bavarian Nordic with continued progress in the commercialization of the Company. This is driven by the acquired product portfolio from GSK, our smallpox vaccine business, and several new supply contracts, but importantly, also with significant advances in our pipeline. We have initiated the human challenge trial of the RSV vaccine as planned and look forward to results later this year. Following the announcement of encouraging preclinical results for the COVID-19 vaccine, which demonstrated the potential for a broad protection against emerging SARS-CoV2 variants, we will soon advance the project by initiating a larger phase 2 trial and are working to secure funding for phase 3 development towards licensure. We remain optimistic about the gradual reopening of the society and maintain our financial guidance for 2021, although markets are still uncertain due to COVID-19."

Financial highlights from the first quarter

Revenue was DKK 535 million comprised of DKK 515 million from combined product sales and DKK 20 million from contract work.
EBITDA was DKK 1 million.
Strong cash position of DKK 2,589 million at end of the period, excluding unutilized credit facilities of DKK 244 million.
Full-year guidance maintained with expected revenue between DKK 1,900-2,200 million, EBITDA between DKK 100-250 million and securities, cash and cash equivalents at year-end between DKK 1,400-1,600 million. The guided ranges reflect the uncertainty created by COVID-19 in the rabies and tick-bore encephalitis markets.

* EBITDA in Q1 2020 was positively impacted by the sale of the Priority Review Voucher.

Other highlights

In January, Bavarian Nordic announced contracts with three European countries for the supply of smallpox vaccines. Deliveries occurred during the first quarter 2021.
In March, Bavarian Nordic received a new order from the Canadian Government for smallpox vaccines valued at USD 31 million for delivery in 2022 and 2023. The order was made under an existing contract with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
In March, Bavarian Nordic reported encouraging preclinical data for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ABNCoV2 and subsequently raised DKK 1.1 billion through a private placement to, among others, advance the clinical development of the vaccine towards licensure.
Events after the reporting date

In April, new preclinical results for the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ABNCoV2 were announced, confirming its potential to offer broad protection against variants of the SARS-CoV2 virus.
In April, Bavarian Nordic received a new Ebola supply order from Janssen, valued at approximately USD 28 million. Manufacturing and delivery will occur during 2021. The Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine regimen, which includes Mvabea from Bavarian Nordic also received Prequalification from the World Health Organization, which along with the July 2020 approval from the European Commission, will help accelerate its registration in countries where Ebola is a persistent public health threat.
In May, the US government exercised the final USD 12 million option remaining under the USD 202 million order for JYNNEOS awarded in April 2020.
In May, Bavarian Nordic entered an agreement with Dynavax on marketing and distribution of their HEPLISAV B hepatitis B vaccine in Germany
Conference call and webcast
The management of Bavarian Nordic will host a conference call today at 1 pm CET (7 am ET) to present the interim results followed by a Q&A session. A listen-only version of the call can be accessed via View Source To join the Q&A session, use one of the following dial-in numbers: Denmark: +45 32 72 80 42, UK: +44 (0) 844 571 8892, USA: +1 631-510-7495. Participant code is 3319667.