Bengaluru: Novavax reported a second-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by strong revenue from its COVID-19 vaccines, but still trimmed its annual forecast for sales of the shot.
The company’s shares were up nearly 11 per cent at $8.32.
The cash-strapped company also entered a stock deal with SK Bioscience worth about $85 million for part payment of a settlement amount owed to the South Korean company for manufacturing Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccines.
As part of the agreement, Novavax will issue 6.5 million shares to SK Bioscience at $13 per share.
In addition to the stock deal, Novavax said it negotiated down its manufacturing liabilities to the South Korean company to $154 million from $195 million, and struck royalty deals with the firm.
Following the agreements, Novavax now owes SK Bioscience $65 million in cash.
Novavax posted net income of $58 million, or $0.58 per share, for the second quarter, compared with a net loss of $510 million, or $6.53 a share, a year earlier.
The company reported revenue of $424 million, compared with analysts’ estimates of $240 million, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Novavax lowered the sales forecast for its COVID-19 vaccines to between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion this year, compared with a previous outlook of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion.
The company expects lower revenue from overseas purchase contracts for the shot.
Novavax is counting on selling an updated version of its shot that targets the XBB.1.5 coronavirus variant in the fall season, especially in the United States.
