23rd Apr 2014 12:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Avacta Group PLC Wednesday posted a narrowed pretax loss for the year to end-January, boosted by increased sales of its analytical instrument Optim.
The biotechnology company posted a pretax loss of GBP500,000, narrowed from GBP807,000 in the previous year, as revenue rose to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.2 million, boosted by growth from the company's Optim units and in its animal allergy testing products.
The company placed nine Optim units during the year, up from the two it placed last year. Revenues from the company's animal allergy testing products rose to GBP820,000 from GBP730,000.
Gross margins rose to 64% from 56%, benefiting from the retooling of its Optim product to have a lower build cost, and a shift towards higher margin animal allergy testing products.
Avacta's Life Sciences business has not yet contributed materially to revenue, Avacta said, although it saw its first revenues from its new Affimer reagents after the end of the year.
Affimer reagents are engineered alternatives to antibodies based on proteins.
Avacta is continuing to focus on commercialising its Affimers, which are based on the protein stefin a. It plans to continue growing its catalogue of Affimer reagents and secure distribution partners for the Affimers in key geographies. It will expand its operations to support the growth of these sale.
The company said that the Affimers represent an "enormous" opportunity for it, and it expects growth through the sales of these products in the coming years.
Additionally, it has begun launching new tests in its Animal Health business outside of its traditional allergy sector, although it noted this was slower than it had planned.
It launched its in-clinic blood testing system SensiPod last Autumn and has rolled out the product with early adopters. Four new SensiPod tests are in development, along with a further equine test, and all five are expected to be launched later in the year.
Broker Numis has reiterated its 'Buy' rating for Avacta and maintained its 2014 forecasts, although it reduced its 2015 revenue assumption by 4% due to the delayed launch of the new tests.
Numis maintained its belief that the Animal Health and Life Science divisions could each be worth more than the current value of the group.
Shares in Avacta were trading up 3.0% at 1.21 pence Wednesday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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