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Exponential growth in the first six month of 2020

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Oslo, Norway (15 July 2020) Followed by an extremely strong first quarter, NattoPharma further increased revenues in the second quarter by 61%, bringing the YTD growth to 81% compared to the first half in 2019. YTD Adjusted EBITDA came in at NOK 16,7 million.

(NOK mill. / %) Q2'20 Q2'19 YTD'20 YTD'19
Operating Revenue 48.4 30.0 104.6 57.8
EBITDA (adj.) 6.2 0.9 16.7 2.8
EBITDA (adj.) margin 12.9 % 3.0 % 16.0 % 4.8 %

CEO, Kjetil Ramsøy: “We are proud to announce another strong quarter and a very strong performance year to date. With a total revenue of NOK 104,6 million and an EBITDA (adj.) of 16,7 million (16,0% margin) we continue to deliver very strong results reflecting all the hard work from the NattoPharma team across all disciplines.”

The COVID-19 situation continuous to be an area of great concern affecting large parts of the global economy and many of the areas that NattorPharma operates in. Throughout the second quarter we have kept focus on our supply chain and demand development across our operations, and with dedicated focus we have been able to navigate through many challenges without any significant adverse impact to our operation. The hording behavior that we noticed at the end of first quarter has been normalized again and we continue to see an increase in demand for Vitamin K2 and MenaQ7 in particular, and in all geographies. Our inventory levels have also remained at the same levels as before and thus far we have continuous production and supply of Vitamin K2.

Further the second quarter has been a very eventful quarter with:

  • An unconditional offer from Kappa Bioscience AS to acquire up to approx. 2.15 million shares in NattoPharma and intended voluntary offer to acquire all shares in the company
  • Followed by a letter from Kappa on alleged infringement with Kappa’s not granted European patent and potentially also their granted European patent.

The Board of NattoPharma sees the limited appetite and response from its shareholders to Kappa’s offer as a testament to the firm believe from the Board that the offer from Kappa does not reflect the underlying values of the Company and to the confidence that Kappa’s allegations of infringement will not have a material negative impact on NattoPharma’s operations.

As a reaction to the announcement from Kappa Bioscience the Board of Directors in NattoPharma subse­quently announced the appointment of ABG Sundal Collier to provide support in a strategic review of the company and its opportunities to better reflect the underlying values of NattoPharma. A full strategic review is in its nature time con­suming and it is still ongoing when the first half year report is being published, and no guidance can be provided at the current time for when the strategic review will be complet­ed and the outcome of the process can be presented. The Board is, together with ABG Sundal Collier, looking at all alternatives for how to position the company going forward.

Other milestones during the quarter include:

  • An exclusive partnership with KD Nutra, a KD Pharma Group Company, to develop the market for KD Nutra’s KD-PüR® high concentrate omega-3s with NattoPharma’s category leading nature-identical vitamin K2, MenaQ7® PharmaPure MK-7.
  • Grant of up to NOK 15 million in R&D funding for a multi-year project to be conducted in cooperation with SINTEF
  • The conversion of a NOK 4 million receivable in Kaydence Pharma to new equity at a conversion rate of NOK 5 per share, issuing 800 000 new shares in Kaydence Pharma at a nominal value of NOK 1 per share. With this increased shareholding, NattoPharma now holds more than 54% of the company, and has in addition taken control in the Board of Directors in Kaydence Pharma by appointing a new board.

We have increased our guiding on the overall YoY revenue growth from 50% to 60% (previously 35% to 50%), and we have also increased Adjusted EBITDA guiding from 13% to 18% (previously 10% to 15%) on a full year basis. This guiding on revenue and Adjusted EBITDA is only related to the current vitamin K2 business, and any impact of a launch of a new ingredient is not taken into account in these numbers.

 

Please find enclosed the Nattopharma Group Half Year 2020 Report.

For more information, please contact:

Robert Schrama, CFO, NattoPharma, robert.schrama@nattopharma.com

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

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