DGAP-News: Solid second quarter for the biotech industry - BB Biotech raised its allocation to promising small and mid caps
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DGAP-News: BB BIOTECH AG
/ Key word(s): Half Year Report/Interim Report
Media release of July 23, 2021 Interim report of BB Biotech AG as at June 30, 2021 Solid second quarter for the biotech industry - BB Biotech raised its allocation to promising small and mid caps During the second quarter, most indices' total returns reached high single digits such as the S&P 8.6%, the Dow Jones 5.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index 9.7% (all values in USD). Some European markets indexes such as the EuroStoxx 50 (+5.3%, in EUR) and the Dax (+3.5%, in EUR) were slightly less up, with the Swiss SPI Index (+9.5%, in CHF) in line to the US markets. Healthcare markets rebounded from the April sell-off to close the second quarter in positive territory. Driven by the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine players, the controversial approval of Aduhelm to treat Alzheimer's disease and substantial value appreciations for many gene editing companies, the broad MSCI World Healthcare Index (+9.3%, in USD), and Nasdaq Biotech Index (+9.2%, in USD) posted impressive gains. For the first half of 2021, the total share price return was 22.2% in CHF and 21.3% in EUR, including the dividend. This was ahead of the Net Asset Value appreciation of 8.9% in CHF, 7.3% in EUR and 4.1% in USD. This resulted in a net profit of CHF 349 mn for the first half of 2021 compared to the CHF 422 mn figure reported for the same period of last year. Exchange-rate fluctuations in the USD/CHF currency pair contributed first half 2021 performance by approximately 4.8%. Change to the Board of Directors of BB Biotech Second quarter 2021 portfolio activity Additional capital was generated after gains in the Biogen share price following the Aduhelm approval, Moderna's continued rally to become the second largest market cap company in the biotech universe, and from Agios following the oncology division sale to Servier. These funds were re-deployed - adding to positions in companies with depressed prices consequent to certain short-term setbacks such as Vertex. Other capital was invested into innovative smaller and mid cap companies with substantial pipeline and growth opportunities including Sage, Macrogenics, Black Diamond and Ionis who each presented buying opportunities associated with pipeline updates or short-term clinical trial results. Overall, actively managing 33 positions in the portfolio, the investment level decreased slightly from 109.2% to 107.5% during the second quarter 2021. This offers sufficient capital flexibility for the investment team to continue to identify and invest in novel opportunities within the boundaries of the established investment guidelines - an investment level of 95% to 115% and a maximum of 35 positions. Outlook for second half 2021 More recently high expectations from Wall Street for genome editing companies have been reflected in valuations in the wake of initial in vivo clinical data from Intellia Therapeutics. The portfolio management team sees attractive valuations in other subsectors and expects to allocate further capital to attractive companies for superior mid and longer-term returns. The second half of 2021 will continue to be dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with scientists and health experts carefully monitoring the emergence of virus variants. Vaccines already approved and widely used will be tested for their efficacy against new strains. Most importantly, booster injections are developed consisting of a third injection to boost the immune system of already vaccinated subjects or to be tailored specifically to address the challenging emergent strains. Major regulatory decisions concerning several stocks in BB Biotech's portfolio are also expected. These include decisions on Argenx's filing for approval of efgartigimod, Agios filing for mitapivat and a label expansion for Caplyta, a drug developed by Intra-Cellular, for which an approval date for the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar I or II disorder is set towards the end of 2021. And lastly, an acceleration of data has been witnessed in biopharma and other life sciences industries. BB Biotech's investment team intends to take advantage of this trend and is therefore expanding its competency in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence. In particular, the democratizing force of cloud computing of recent years is enabling the team to leverage huge volumes of patient-centered data in its investment process. Machine learning and AI will enhance the team's proprietary investment processes and expand its investment universe. The quarterly report of BB Biotech AG as at June 30, 2021 can be downloaded at report.bbbiotech.ch/Q221 or www.bbbiotech.com For further information: Investor Relations Media Relations TE Communications AG, Bleichestrasse 11, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland, Tel. +41 79 423 22 28 Company profile Disclaimer
23.07.2021 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. |
Language: | English |
Company: | BB BIOTECH AG |
Schwertstrasse 6 | |
8200 Schaffhausen | |
Switzerland | |
Phone: | +41 52 624 08 45 |
E-mail: | [email protected] |
Internet: | www.bbbiotech.ch |
ISIN: | CH0038389992 |
WKN: | A0NFN3 |
Listed: | Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Mailand, SIX |
EQS News ID: | 1220898 |
End of News | DGAP News Service |
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1220898 23.07.2021
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