BioNTech (BNTX) on Monday reiterated its full-year revenue outlook despite reporting an unexpected decline in first-quarter sales on an annual basis, while the German drugmaker hired a former Novartis (NVS) executive as its new finance chief.

The company continues to project revenue to be in a range of 1.7 billion euros ($1.93 billion) to 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) for 2025, while the current consensus on FactSet is for 2.05 billion euros.

The company also reaffirmed its full-year research and development expense guidance for 2.6 billion euros to 2.8 billion euros. Capital expenditures for operating activities are still pegged at 250 million euros to 350 million euros.

In a separate statement, BioNTech said it appointed Ramon Zapata-Gomez as chief financial officer, effective July 1. Zapata-Gomez, who previously served in the same role at Novartis' global biomedical research organization, will succeed Jens Holstein, who is set to retire at the end of June.

For the March quarter, BioNTech posted a per-share loss of 1.73 euros, versus a loss of 1.31 euros the year before. The Street was looking for a loss of 2.27 euros. Revenue declined to 182.8 million euros from 187.6 million euros, worse than the Street's view for an increase to 198.8 million euros. Sales were mainly driven by revenue from the company's COVID-19 vaccine collaboration, it said.

"Our revenues for the first quarter reflect the seasonal demand for COVID-19 vaccines and are in line with our expectations," Holstein said in the earnings release. "BioNTech's robust financial position empowers us to pursue our strategic goal of evolving into a leading biotech company with multiple oncology products by 2030."

Cost of sales rose to 83.8 million euros in the first quarter from 59.1 million euros the year prior. Research and development expenses increased to 525.6 million euros from 507.5 million euros due to the progression of late-stage clinical studies for some of the company's antibody-drug conjugate candidates.