ANL — H1 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Overview

Adlai Nortye is a clinical-stage cancer drug developer. It has no approved products, and its lead programs target RAS, a family of genes that is mutated in many pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancers. Its first-half 2026 results, furnished to the SEC on a Form 6-K on August 14, 2026, show two separate changes. First, the company raised about $290 million in two private share sales. It ended June with $231.9 million of cash and short-term investments, up from $8.1 million at the end of 2025, when its auditors' going-concern note warned of "significant doubt" about its ability to keep operating. Second, it booked its first meaningful revenue: $13.1 million from licensing China rights to its lead RAS drug, AN9025, to Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical (ASK Pharm). That revenue cut the net loss to $5.3 million from $18.3 million a year earlier. Underlying spending did not fall, though: cash burned by operations was $15.4 million, almost the same as a year ago.

At a glance

• $231.9M cash and short-term investments (vs $8.1M at Dec 31, 2025). The funding gap that hung over the year-end accounts has closed for now. Shareholders' equity went from negative $8.3M to positive $214.8M.
• $13.1M revenue, all from one licensing deal. These are upfront and milestone payments from ASK Pharm, not drug sales. They are lumpy and will not repeat on a set schedule.
• $15.4M operating cash outflow (vs $15.1M). Cash spending is unchanged. The smaller loss comes from licensing income, not from cost cuts.

The numbers

All figures are in US dollars under IFRS (the international accounting standard), for the six months to June 30. The company does not report quarterly figures.

Each American Depositary Share (ADS, the unit that trades on Nasdaq) represents three ordinary shares. The H1 2026 loss therefore works out to about $0.11 per ADS.

What drove the results

Revenue: one licensing deal. In December 2025 the company licensed AN9025's rights in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to ASK Pharm. The deal is worth up to RMB 1.6 billion (about $230 million) in upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties of high single digits to mid-teens percent on any future sales there. Adlai Nortye keeps rights everywhere else. The 6-K says all $13.1 million of H1 revenue came from this agreement, "primarily in connection with upfront payments and development milestone achievements." The 20-F says RMB 60 million (about $8.7 million) was received in January. For comparison, the only 2025 revenue was a $5.0 million one-off: an old option fee that was released when a partner's project was dropped.

Costs were mostly flat. R&D fell 4% to $14.6 million, which the company attributes to "lower preclinical development costs" because its main programs are still early-stage. Administrative costs rose 43% to $5.8 million, mainly from share-based pay (stock options vesting). The cost of share-based compensation recorded in equity rose to $1.7 million from $0.7 million. Other operating income also rose to $1.6 million from $0.1 million. Other gains fell to $0.9 million from $1.5 million because the company received fewer government grants.

Funding. In February the company agreed a $140 million private placement at $6.50 per ADS. In April it agreed a $150 million placement at $13.25 per ADS, which was that day's closing price. The price per ADS roughly doubled between the two rounds. Net cash from financing in H1 was $223.1 million. Most of the new money went into $99.3 million of short-term investments (bank deposits held at amortized cost), which is why investing cash flow shows a $83.7 million outflow. Year-end 2025 restricted cash of $15.7 million, which had been pledged against a bank loan, was released. Total bank borrowings were roughly unchanged at $25.0 million ($17.6 million short-term plus $7.3 million long-term).

What the headline numbers hide

• The smaller loss does not mean the business got cheaper to run. Take away the $13.1 million of licensing revenue and the operating loss would have been about $18.8 million, close to last year's $19.2 million. Revenue of this kind arrives when contract milestones are hit, not every period, so H1 2026 is not a run-rate.
• Cash burn was higher than the loss. Operating cash outflow was $15.4 million against a $5.3 million net loss. The filing's balance sheet shows why: trade payables (bills owed to suppliers) fell from $12.6 million to $4.6 million and other payables fell by $1.5 million, so the company used part of its new cash to pay down old bills. Prepayments and other receivables also rose by $4.6 million.
• Loss per share fell faster than the loss (−79% vs −71%) because the average share count rose 49% after the placements. Existing holders were diluted, and that dilution flatters the per-share figure.
• Not all of the February round shows up yet. The 20-F, filed April 10, said only about $85 million of the $140 million February placement had been received. By June 30, Class A shares outstanding had risen by 73.2 million, and shares issued added $224.4 million to equity. Both figures fit $85 million from February plus the full April round, not the full $290 million announced. The H1 release does not say whether the rest of the February money is still due, so treat $231.9 million as the cash actually on hand, not a figure that includes it.
• The going-concern warning is from year-end and was written before the raises. The FY2025 accounts flagged "material uncertainty" because the company had $8.1 million of cash and $14.7 million of net current liabilities. The June balance sheet shows $240.9 million of current assets against $25.2 million of current liabilities.

Takeaway: H1 2026 was a funding event more than an operating one. The RAS-focused pipeline now has about $232 million behind it instead of $8 million, but cash spending is unchanged at about $15 million per half. The loss shrank only because of a licensing payment that won't recur on a schedule. What matters from here is clinical data, and the first readouts are not due until 2027.

Pipeline: what the cash is paying for

• AN9025 (oral pan-RAS(ON) inhibitor, a pill meant to block many forms of mutated RAS at once). A global Phase I trial is enrolling in the US and China. The daily-dosing arm dosed its first US patient in February 2026 and the once-weekly arm in July. More US sites are due to open in H2 2026. Initial dose-escalation data are guided for H1 2027.
• AN4035 (antibody-drug conjugate, an antibody that carries a pan-RAS inhibitor payload to tumor cells displaying the CEACAM5 protein). An Australian ethics committee (HREC) approved its Phase I trial in July. A September 8 6-K reported the first patient dosed in Australia and US FDA clearance of the IND application to begin trials. Initial clinical data are expected in H2 2027.
• AN8025 (tri-specific immunotherapy). A Phase I trial is running in Australia and China, and dose escalation is due to finish by end-2026.
• AN0025 (EP4 antagonist, in rectal cancer with chemoradiotherapy). The Phase II ARTEMIS trial is fully enrolled and passed a futility check in March 2026. Topline results are due in H1 2027.
• AN4005 (oral PD-L1 inhibitor). The company is de-prioritizing it as a single-agent drug and is open to partnering it for combinations. An update is expected at the 2026 SITC meeting.

Outlook

The company gives no financial guidance and its release states no cash-runway figure. At H1's pace of about $15 million per half-year, $231.9 million would last for years. Spending should rise, though: management says it is building out US and Singapore clinical and operating teams, adding US trial sites and moving a second RAS drug into the clinic. Further ASK Pharm milestones could offset part of that, but neither their timing nor their size has been disclosed. The company also moved its legal home from the Cayman Islands to Singapore and renamed itself Adlai Nortye Group Ltd. on July 29, 2026.

Our read: the balance sheet risk is solved for now. What will drive the stock is the AN9025 dose-escalation data in H1 2027, which will show whether the drug can be dosed safely enough to work and whether weekly dosing helps tolerability. Watch for H2 2026 spending stepping up and for any update on the rest of the February placement. The next full financial picture should come with the FY2026 annual report on Form 20-F, which was filed in April this year.