2020 Year in Review
Strength from purpose
“Despite everything happening in the world, we finished 2020 as we started it: energised by our mission; keenly aware of our influence and relevance to research and society; and hopeful about the sustainable future we are creating for all Abcam stakeholders.”
Alan Hirzel, CEO
Chairman’s statement
“The world has changed, and as it has, Abcam has met each new challenge with agility and dedication. I am not only pleased that Abcam has continued to deliver on its strategy and meet its stated mission to serve life scientists over the last year, but I am also proud of the way the company has behaved during these unprecedented times.
Under the stewardship of Alan and the senior leadership team, our people have adapted quickly to a new way of working and continued to put our customers first. No one has been furloughed and we have continued to invest behind our growth strategy.
Confidence in our outlook is reflected in our commitment to our long-term investment plans. Despite the fact that trading conditions are likely to remain uncertain in 2021, the Board remains confident in the outlook and in the strategy for the Group.”
Peter Allen, Chairman
CEO’s review
Despite the disruption of COVID-19, the fundamentals of our business remain strong and the medium and long-term prospects of our markets attractive. As a result, we continue to invest across the business to allow us to capitalise on our platform and competitive strengths and seize more of the market opportunities for growth and expect the operational leverage to unwind as the value of our investments are realised post-COVID-19.
Alan Hirzel, CEO
Our strategic process
In September 2019 we set out our three strategic pillars to guide our activities. This year we provide an update on the progress made across the six strategic priorities that underpin these pillars. They form the foundation of our growth strategy and value creation plan for the medium-term. They are designed to help us grow together; not just as a Company, but as a global team, and to do so in an efficient and effective way.
1. Extend leadership in RUO antibodies
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2. Remove innovation constraints and launch new lines
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3. Be a leading discovery partner for biopharma organisations
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4. Be a leading digital company
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5. Remove scalability constraints and sustain value
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6. Selectively pursue acquisitions
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Our strategic process
In September 2019 we set out our three strategic pillars to guide our activities. This year we provide an update on the progress made across the six strategic priorities that underpin these pillars. They form the foundation of our growth strategy and value creation plan for the medium-term. They are designed to help us grow together; not just as a Company, but as a global team, and to do so in an efficient and effective way.
1. Extend leadership in RUO antibodies
2019/20 priorities
- Develop best in class binders to high value targets, pathways and research areas
- Expand industry leading quality and validation initiatives
- Extend immunoassay portfolio
- Execute China growth strategy to maintain regional leadership
What we achieved
- Launched > 2,000 in-house Ab products, exceeding target despite COVID-19 and increasing our range to over 20,000
- Continued to extend and enhance our antibody validation programme, with over 450 products knockout validated
- Achieved our highest ever product satisfaction rate (12-month rolling)
- Increased our global Ab citation share by +2% pts to 23%, with our China Ab citation share up +4% (cal-2019)
- Increased our global ELISA citation share +4% pts to 18%
2020/21 priorities
- Successfully introduce and commercialise next cohort of in-house products to important research area needs
- Further enhance product validation and continue to raise quality standards
- Define plan to transition to 100% recombinant portfolio
2. Remove innovation constraints and launch new lines
2019/20 priorities
- Build immunogen capability and launch proteins business
- Build validation capability and launch cell lines and lysates business
- Launch and extend imaging, assay and multiplexing lines
What we achieved
- Opened protein expression capability and launched line of in-house proteins
- Established engineered cell lines offering, adding >800 cell lines and >2,600 lysates to the catalogue
- Expanded our Fireplex customer base
- Delivered ahead of commercial plan for proteins, cell lines, multiplex, and conjugates product lines, despite COVID-19 impact
2020/21 priorities
- Continue to drive successful adoption of new product lines (proteins, cell lines, multiplex, conjugation) consistent with multi-year growth plans
3. Be a leading discovery partner for biopharma organisations
2019/20 priorities
- Build on our position to become a leading antibody discovery partner for biopharma, including:
- Extend in-licensing and out-licensing capabilities
- Strengthen solution selling
- Extend network of commercial relationships
What we achieved
- Established supply agreements with four new instrumentation partners and extended existing programmes
- Entered over 50 new development programmes with diagnostic/biopharma partners, including early pipeline access programmes
- Extended the number of products validated for use on third-party platforms and/or in IVD to over 450
- Strengthened our commercial team, enhancing our ability to serve global biopharma organisations
2020/21 priorities
- Continue to grow the number of viable products, agreements and relationships across ‘Abcam Inside’ initiatives
4. Be a leading digital company
2019/20 priorities
- Reinvent digital channel to add value for customers
- Increase personalisation of the browsing and shopping experience
- Upgrade the buying experience
- Continue to scale up data analytics to enhance the customer experience
What we achieved
- Updated recommendation engine
- Added “Frequently Bought Together” tool, supporting the x-sell of complementary products
- Launched Knowledge Base for automated FAQ
- Added New WeChat features, including anti-counterfeit measures
- Defined detailed design for new digital platform
2020/21 priorities
- Establish new web-platform to enable greater personalisation of the digital experience
- Successfully deploy next phase of enterprise software
- Expand capabilities and use of AI/data analytics
5. Remove scalability constraints and sustain value
2019/20 priorities
- Drive productivity improvements across our operations to enhance margins and cash flow
- Build talent depth and invest in the potential of our teams
- Exit legacy and complete IT transformation
- Optimise facilities footprint and automate manufacturing processes to remove bottlenecks
What we achieved
- Deployed improved production processes and high throughput screening for Ab development, driving a 10% reduction in product development times
- Began implementation of enhanced USA footprint
- Identified and began to address global bottleneck constraints in logistics, operations and workflows
- Defined the detailed design for the final ERP modules
2020/21 priorities
- Complete next phase of global footprint plan in US and China
- Continue to improve product development times and success rates
- Reduce end to end supply chain movements and other sources of waste through greater cross-site collaboration
- Design and roll-out next global equity scheme
6. Selectively pursue acquisitions
2019/20 priorities
- Maintain a strong pipeline to add attractive products, technologies and capabilities
- Implement repeatable integration team/approach
- Be value disciplined
What we achieved
- Acquired and integrated certain business assets from Expedeon, Applied StemCell and Marker Gene Technologies and certain assets from Edigene, adding new technologies, capabilities and products
- Technology partnerships agreed with BrickBio and SomaServe
2020/21 priorities
- Continue to carefully evaluate potential opportunities that are aligned with our strategy
- Strengthen relationships for future deals
What we achieved this year
Responded to COVID-19 to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees and support our customers
Invested and made progress across all strategic areas of our five-year growth plan
Innovated and published over 2,000 new in-house recombinant antibody products, ahead of target, and launched in-house protein and engineered cell lines ranges
Expanded our team and capabilities to serve biopharma and industry partners; executed over 50 partnership agreements in this area, including with Cancer Research UK
Acquired, integrated and invested behind four acquisitions that have brought new products, technologies and capabilities into the business, including the proteomics and immunology businesses of Expedeon
Continued to strengthen senior team, including the appointment of Michael Baldock as CFO and Juan Carlos Sacristan as SVP of Data and Technology
Sustainability at our core
At Abcam we’ve always been motivated to do the right thing, and we’ve had a long running and successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, but we haven’t always fully understood or articulated our impact in the world. Over the past 12 months we have set about deepening our understanding and measuring the impact we have, both positive and negative: how we can become more influential and help fuel even more scientific discoveries which enable breakthroughs in human health and wellbeing.
Our financial performance
“Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has brought in a level of uncertainty with respect to the near-term outlook, however we remain committed to the strategic investment plan we laid out in September 2019 and focused on achieving those financial goals.”
Michael Baldock, Chief Financial Officer
Key performance measures
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Responding to our stakeholders
Understanding the views and values of all our stakeholders is critical to Abcam’s success, and we value their broad range of perspectives. The Corporate Governance Code also highlights the importance of effective engagement with shareholders and other stakeholders. Our stakeholders include our customers, employees, partners, shareholders, and communities. Engaging with our stakeholders and the issues that matter to them allows us to take more informed decisions, and better identify the consequences of our actions on our stakeholders.
Ensuring our resilience
During the year, the Board carried out a robust assessment of the emerging and principal risks facing the Company, including risks that would threaten Abcam’s business model, solvency or liquidity and reputation. Although the nature of the risks to which Abcam is exposed have not changed substantially, the assessment resulted in some revision to how the principal risks are grouped and expressed.
2020 Annual Report
2020 Annual Report
Our business model
Explore our business model and how we sustain value creation for our stakeholders
Our strategy
Read about are strategy to sustain long-term profitable growth
Regulatory news
View Abcam’s latest regulatory news announcements
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