Biontech makes billions in profits and significantly increases sales forecast

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Biontech headquarters in Mainz: EUR 3.9 billion surplus

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Thomas Lohnes / Getty Images

At the gold mine - that's the address of the Biontech company in Mainz.

And the biopharma company lives up to its address.

Because the success of its corona vaccine has given Biontech a huge leap in sales and profits.

As the company announced, net profit rose to just under 2.8 billion euros in the second quarter of 2021 after a loss of 88.3 million euros in the same period of the previous year.

For the first six months of this year, the surplus amounted to a good 3.9 billion euros after a loss of almost 142 million euros in the previous year.

Sales in the quarter ended June 30th were estimated at around 5.3 billion euros (previous year: minus 41.7 million).

For the first half of the year, total sales came to almost 7.4 billion euros (69 million euros).

Biontech raised the forecast for sales of its Covid-19 vaccine in the current year and is forecasting sales of 15.9 (previously: 12.4) billion euros with the vaccine.

And it could be even more, because the current sales forecast is based on the contracts signed by July 21 for the delivery of around 2.2 billion vaccine doses by the end of the year.

"Additional sales are expected in connection with further supply contracts for deliveries in 2021, with the first contracts for 2022 and beyond have already been concluded," said the company.

The Biontech shares soared 6.5 percent after the publication of the quarterly figures.

US partner Pfizer had already raised its sales forecast for the vaccine at the end of July after further supply contracts were concluded.

According to Biontech, a total of three billion cans will be produced by the end of the year.

In 2022 it should then be up to four billion units.

As of July 21, more than a billion vaccine doses had been delivered to more than 100 regions.

Third dose could further boost business

At the same time, the company promoted a possible booster vaccination: "Biontech and Pfizer are of the opinion that a booster vaccination or third dose of BNT162b2 has the potential to maintain the highest level of protection against all currently tested variants, including Delta," it said.

In the coming weeks, more precise data from the analysis of ongoing clinical studies are to be published and submitted to the regulatory authorities in the USA, the European Union (EU) and other countries.

Biontech and Pfizer had received the world's first approval for a Covid-19 vaccine at the end of 2020.

mmq / Reuters / dpa