11th Sep 2014 10:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC said Thursday that it narrowed its pretax loss in the first-half while revenue rose as sales in its academic division benefited from increased marketing and its clinical trials business saw revenue rise, reflecting early success of the company's new focus on drug characterisation and human abuse liability studies.
Cambridge Cognition specialises in computerised neuropsychological tests including those enabling the early detection of dementia.
In its half-results for the six months to June 30 the company said its pretax loss narrowed to GBP473,000, compared to a GBP1.5 million loss last year due to improved trading conditions and "significant work undertaken to correctly align our cost base and ensure that the Company is on track to move into profitability next year," said the company.
Revenue rose 23% during the first-half to GBP2.5 million from GBP2.0 million in 2013, reflecting a fresh commercial approach to the academic research business and the early success of a new focus on drug characterisation and human abuse liability studies within Cambridge's clinical trials business, said the AIM-listed company.
Cambridge Cognition said it had a cash balance of GBP1.6 million as of June 30, down from GBP2.3 million as of December 31, 2013.
"Overall these results benefit from the first full impact of the £1.4m reduction in the overall cost base established last year, our investment in our commercial infrastructure and our continued focus on driving the business through breakeven and into profitability next year," said the company in a statement.
The clinical trials business, Cantab Solutions, performed well in the first-half, said the company, with revenue up 24% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.3 million last year and is supported by a strong sales pipeline and contract wins into the second-half. "It was a key goal to see this business return to growth and whilst our new focus has some impact on the first half of the year we expect to see a more significant contribution to revenue growth in the second half and beyond," said the company.
The academic business, Cantab Research, performed very well with sales up nearly 48% to GBP874,000 from GBP592,000 in the comparable half, driven by a new marketing focus which concentrates on the top 200 academic institutions worldwide in a more structured way, said Cambridge.
While sales from the recently launched Cantab Healthcare division - which focuses on the primary healthcare market - were not in line with early expectations, the interest being shown in the product and the early results from the CCGs who have adopted the technology are extremely encouraging both in terms of the efficacy of the product and its prospects for future growth, said the company. Sales for the division came in at GBP32,000 compared with GBP149,000 in the first-half of 2013, though Cambridge noted that the comparable period last year benefited from a large one-off sale in the first quarter.
The strong contributions from both its academic and clinical trials-focused businesses have laid the foundation for a return to growth, said the company, with a number of significant new contracts converted in the first-half that will contribute to revenues in the second-half and beyond.
Buoyed by the results, Cambridge Cognition said it remains on track to reduce overall losses in the year and to move into profitability in 2015 and that good growth in the first-half is expected to continue in the second-half.
"Our results for the first half of the year demonstrate the Company's return to growth. We have worked hard over the last year to develop Cambridge Cognition into a commercially driven business and to establish a solid platform for future growth. This hard work is beginning to pay off and the first half performance gives us confidence that we will meet current expectations for the full year and that we are on track to deliver a profit in 2015," said Chief Executive Nick Kerton.
Shares in Cambridge Cognition were Thursday morning trading 4.17% lower at 55.10 pence per share.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Cambridge Cog