The German biotech, which developed its lucrative vaccine with Pfizer, said it was looking into a potential dividend next year.

BioNTech, which shares gross profits on the Covid vaccine with Pfizer on a 50:50 basis, said it would consider paying out a dividend in 2022, but that its focus for this year was spending on developing its pharmaceuticals.

Finance Chief Sierk Poetting told the virtual annual shareholder meeting that the company would not be looking into a proposal for any dividend before next year’s shareholder meeting, however.

“Our strategic priority for 2021 is the reinvestment of capital,” said chief executive Ugur Sahin, explaining that funds were concentrated on developing therapies and technologies for now.

BioNTech has had a gainful year, since its vaccine with partner Pfizer became the first by a Western company to gain approval for use in December 2020.

The company forecasts its existing vaccine contracts to supply 1.8bn doses are worth about €12.4bn, and expects this to rise even further as it increases manufacturing capacity for up to 3bn doses. Shareholders were told today that more supply contracts were on the horizon.

The German biotech reported revenue of around $2.5bn in the first quarter of this year, with standout net margins of 55 per cent.

BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin also told the meeting that he currently saw no need to alter its vaccine makeup, due to evidence that shows it still appears to protect against new coronavirus variants.

A recent Public Health England analysis found that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was 94 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation or death from the Delta “variant of concern” that originated in India, and 96 per cent effective after the second dose.