BioNTech has announced that it expects its full-year revenue to be at the lower end of its projections, in part due to inventory write-downs. This comes even as variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccines have contributed to a year-over-year improvement in its third-quarter results. The forecast places BioNTech's revenue guidance between 2.5 billion euros ($2.72 billion) and 3.1 billion euros, with analysts modeling a revenue of 2.6 billion euros for the year.
Chief Financial Officer Jens Holstein noted during a conference call that their guidance includes a risk of write-downs and other charges stemming from their collaboration with Pfizer, estimated to impact approximately 10% of the company's revenue. Holstein remarked, "We will continue to monitor the risk of potential write-downs to determine the full scope of charges related to the 2024, 2025 vaccination season." BioNTech is anticipating a loss for the year.
The company has also reiterated its 2024 research and development expense guidance, set between 2.4 billion euros to 2.6 billion euros. Furthermore, it has lowered its 2024 forecast ranges for both selling, general and administrative expenses, as well as for capital expenditures, by 100 million euros each.
For the three months ending September 30, BioNTech experienced revenue growth, escalating to 1.24 billion euros from 895.3 million euros the previous year, with earnings per share increasing to 0.81 euros from 0.66 euros year over year. Holstein emphasized that revenue growth was driven by the launch of variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccines developed in partnership with Pfizer..