Biotech Firm With 650% Return Is Norway’s Best Stock This Year

(Bloomberg) -- ArcticZymes Technologies ASA, a Norwegian biotechnology company, has seen its share price jump 650% so far this year as it benefits from the pharmaceutical industry’s Covid-19 efforts, making it the Nordic country’s best-performing stock in 2020.

The company, based in Tromso on Norway’s northwest coast, extended its surge on Thursday after it said it would supply materials for a possible vaccine against Covid-19. Its shares closed 20% higher in Oslo, the biggest increase in more than two months.

ArcticZymes, which last month changed its name from Biotech Pharmacon, searches for enzymes in the Arctic waters and then uses them to help develop products that are used in molecular research, diagnostics and therapeutics, according to its website.

The company, which now has a market value of about 1.7 billion kroner ($178 million), implemented a new strategy this year, focusing on its enzymes business and vowing to make profits after years of losses.

The company more than doubled sales in the first quarter, driven by deliveries for the development of coronavirus tests. That led to a 52% increase in its share price on April 23, its biggest jump in a single day this year.

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