Oxford Nanopore’s H1 2025: faster growth, guidance intact
Oxford Nanopore’s first half landed ahead of expectations, with revenue up 28.0% on a constant currency basis (25.6% reported) to £105.6 million. Growth was broad based across regions and customer segments, and importantly the company nudged closer to breakeven with a better adjusted EBITDA loss.
Management reaffirmed full year guidance and kept the medium-term targets unchanged. That combination – outperformance now, no change to guidance – usually signals confidence in the pipeline without over-promising.
Key numbers at a glance
| Metric | H1 2025 | H1 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £105.6m | £84.1m | +25.6% reported, +28.0% CC |
| Gross profit | £61.4m | £49.5m | +24.0% |
| Gross margin | 58.2% | 58.8% | -60 bps |
| Adjusted EBITDA | £(48.3)m | £(61.7)m | +£13.4m |
| Loss for the period | £(71.8)m | £(74.7)m | +£2.9m |
| Cash and other liquid investments | £337.3m | £403.8m (FY24) | -£66.5m vs FY24 |
Jargon buster: “CC” means constant currency – it removes FX swings to show underlying growth. “bps” are basis points – 60 bps equals 0.60 percentage points. Adjusted EBITDA strips out non-cash and one-off items to show underlying operating performance.
Where the growth came from – regions and customers
- EMEAI: £44.6 million, +31.0% reported (+32.7% CC) – strong across Europe and national programmes in the UK.
- Americas: £36.0 million, +14.2% reported (+16.9% CC) – Applied markets offset US research funding softness.
- APAC: £24.9 million, +35.1% reported (+38.3% CC) – standout execution, including 10,200 genomes for Singapore’s PRECISE programme.
By end market the mix remains research-led but Applied is gaining ground:
- Research: £72.1 million, +22.1%.
- Clinical: £13.0 million, +52.9% – rapid oncology and rare disease use cases ramping.
- Applied Industrial: £12.9 million, +27.4%.
- BioPharma: £7.6 million, +18.5%.
That acceleration in Clinical matters. It diversifies the revenue base and typically brings higher, more repeatable demand as workflows standardise.
Products: PromethION rockets, MinION softer
The product story is clear. PromethION revenue jumped 59.6% to £51.1 million as customers drove higher flow cell utilisation and added capacity. MinION, including GridION, dipped 3.1% to £27.6 million, reflecting mix and FX. Other revenue – kits, services and other devices – grew 14.2% to £26.9 million.
Why it matters: strong PromethION take-up shows traction in high-output human genomics and large programmes. Management also flagged rising demand for GridION Q in BioPharma QC, which could stabilise the MinION family into H2.
Margins, cash and the path to profit
Gross margin eased to 58.2% from 58.8%. Under the bonnet, underlying actions added +525 bps, helped by the new pricing model and more customers buying devices outright (capex) rather than leasing. Those gains were offset by a one-off, non-cash inventory charge of £3.3 million (-315 bps), adverse mix (-195 bps) and currency (-80 bps).
Adjusted EBITDA improved to a £48.3 million loss from £61.7 million. Operating cost discipline helped: adjusted operating costs were up 1.3% year-on-year but down 2.2% versus H2 2024, and a targeted efficiency programme cut the workforce by ~5%.
Cash and other liquid investments were £337.3 million at 30 June 2025. Device leasing outflows fell to £5.5 million in H1 2025 from £14.4 million in H1 2024 as customers shifted to purchases – a positive for working capital.
Strategy, partnerships and pipeline: why this is strategic
Oxford Nanopore is doubling down on Applied markets while continuing to serve research. A new partnership with Cepheid, part of Danaher, aims to deliver an automated GeneXpert-to-GridION workflow that can return results from bacterial samples in under eight hours – squarely aimed at infectious disease settings.
On innovation, the company is pushing towards Q30 basecalling accuracy, expanding real-time methylation detection, and previewed up to 70% higher flow cell output on PromethION in beta programmes later this year. GridION Q is being upgraded and is expected to complete CE-IVD submission in the EU by the end of 2025 for specified partners, while the regulated PromethION Q launch moves to 2026 to incorporate chemistry upgrades.
Multiomic capability continues to be a differentiator: direct RNA multiplexing up to 24 samples per flow cell, and early proteomics progress with closed early access programmes targeted by year end 2025. Around 2,000 peer-reviewed papers were published in H1, taking the cumulative total to 18,000, sustaining scientific credibility that feeds commercial adoption.
Leadership changes and governance
Post period end, Oxford Nanopore announced that long-serving CEO Gordon Sanghera will step down by the end of 2026. The search for a successor is underway. Co-founder Spike Willcocks has also left, with the commercial team reporting to CFO Nick Keher on an interim basis. Leadership transitions can unsettle investors, but the long runway to 2026 suggests an orderly handover.
The company also initiated legal action in Australia against MGI for alleged patent infringement, underlining a willingness to defend core IP.
Guidance reiterated and medium-term targets
- FY25 guidance unchanged: revenue growth of 20-23% CC, gross margin around 59%, adjusted operating expense growth of 3-4%.
- Medium term unchanged: adjusted EBITDA breakeven in FY27 and cash flow positive in FY28, underpinned by >30% revenue CAGR from FY24 to FY27, gross margin above 62% in FY27 and operating expense growth of 3-8%.
Management also highlighted a refined commercial focus on high-priority segments worth USD 13-14 billion within a broader opportunity set. Details will be shared at investor events in Q4 2025.
My take: positives, watch-outs, and why it matters
Positives: growth is broad and increasingly Applied-driven, PromethION is scaling well, underlying margin levers are working, and cash remains robust. The pricing model and shift to capex purchases are improving cash conversion. The Cepheid tie-up could be an important wedge into automated clinical workflows.
Watch-outs: US research funding remains uncertain, China export controls continue to pinch, and FX headwinds persist. Gross margin still depends on mix, and losses remain material even as EBITDA improves. Leadership transition introduces some execution risk, albeit on a long timeline.
Why it matters: Oxford Nanopore is moving from a research-centric business towards regulated and applied use cases that can carry higher value and stickier demand. If the company delivers the roadmap – GridION Q in regulated markets, PromethION Q in 2026, and workflow simplification – the medium-term breakeven target looks achievable.
What to watch into H2 2025
- PromethION utilisation and any early readouts from the higher output beta programmes.
- Clinical pipeline momentum, especially oncology and rare disease placements in the US and EMEAI.
- Progress on CE-IVD submission for GridION Q and updates on the Cepheid partnership.
- Cash trajectory and further reduction in leasing-related outflows.
- Any updates on US funding dynamics and export control impacts in China.
- Succession planning milestones for the CEO role.
Investor access
Management is hosting a webcast today at 8:30am BST. Details and replay are available at nanoporetech.com/about-us/investors/reports.
