Evotec Loses Its Science Chief as Revenue Visibility Remains the Market's Chief Worry

Evotec's chief scientific officer leaves Sept 30 by mutual agreement; shares trade at EUR 2.93, down 47% in 2026, as the Horizon savings plan targets EUR 75 million.

Evotec's chief scientific officer, Dr. Cord Dohrmann, is leaving the German drug-discovery group, the company confirmed on Tuesday. The separation, described as mutual, takes effect at the close of September 30, 2026, and a search for his successor is already underway.

Investors took the announcement in stride. The stock added 1.8% in Tuesday's session to change hands at EUR 2.93, a modest bounce for a share that has spent most of the year under pressure.

That pressure is easy to quantify. Evotec closed Monday at EUR 2.88, leaving it down 47% since the start of 2026 and hovering just above its 52-week low of EUR 2.71. The Hamburg-based contract research specialist has become a test case for how quickly a science-driven business can lose the market's patience when its revenue timing slips.

A Revenue Model Built on Milestones — and the Cost of Delay

Much of Evotec's business rests on hitting contractually defined research milestones. When those milestones slide, the revenue and earnings they were meant to generate slide with them, opening holes in forecasts that are hard to plug at short notice.

That is precisely what happened this year. Evotec cut its 2026 revenue guidance to a range of EUR 570 million to EUR 610 million, with roughly 40% of the reduction stemming from postponed milestones in existing partnerships, according to company statements. The hit to the bottom line was just as sharp: management now expects a negative adjusted EBITDA for the full year.

The response has been a tightening of cost controls, centred on the Horizon restructuring programme, which is designed to deliver total savings of EUR 75 million by 2027. Finance chief Claire Hinshelwood has been steering both the savings drive and a push into fresh research collaborations.

Not every number is moving in the wrong direction. Net sales in the Discovery and Preclinical Development segment, excluding strategic partnerships, climbed 28% year on year.

Horizon Takes Centre Stage in San Francisco

The restructuring effort was on full display on September 16, when management presented both its broader business outlook and the Horizon transformation plan at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference. Executives pointed to improved sales compared with the prior-year period and a noticeably brighter mood among customers. No full set of fresh financial figures accompanied that appearance.

The finance chief had taken a similar stage roughly two weeks earlier, using an investor conference to flesh out the company's prospects. Those appearances sit alongside a busy stretch of corporate news: about a month ago Evotec reaffirmed its previously lowered full-year guidance and, almost simultaneously, struck a collaboration with Plectonic Biotech. Two weeks later came the launch of the Phase I trial for JST-018 and the issuance of new subscription shares.

Pipeline Progress Continues Regardless

Scientific work has not slowed. The subsidiary Just-Evotec Biologics recently moved JST-018, an antibody programme developed with the U.S. Department of Defense against orthopox viruses, into Phase I clinical testing. Evotec also has a strategic alliance with Odyssey Therapeutics in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that draws on its AI-driven platform.

The Plectonic tie-up pairs Evotec's BiTco platform for bispecific antibodies with the partner's LOGIBODY technology to explore approaches in solid tumours.

Berenberg Stays Cautious

Analysts remain unconvinced that any of this resolves the central problem. Berenberg kept its "Hold" rating on the stock on Friday with a price target of EUR 3.60, with the responsible analyst pointing to the persistent lack of predictability in revenue development, according to dpa-AFX.

That caution aligns with the share price trajectory. With Dohrmann's departure at month-end and the hunt for a replacement still open, Evotec faces a leadership transition on top of an operational turnaround that has yet to prove itself. Whether the savings programme lands on schedule will determine whether investors start looking past the revenue fog — or keep their distance.