22nd May 2019 12:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - NetScientific PLC on Wednesday posted a slightly narrowed annual loss as reduced research and administrative costs were offset by a rise in other costs and said it is currently funded through to the end of 2020.
NetScientific, an intellectual property commercialisation firm which focuses on healthcare, said its pretax loss for 2018 was GBP4.1 million. This result was marginally narrower than its GBP4.4 million loss in 2017.
Research and development costs shrank to GBP524,000 from GBP997,000, while general and administrative costs fell to GBP2.8 million from GBP3.3 million.
These cost reductions were, however, offset by an increase in other costs to GBP1.0 million from GBP472,000, which meant the difference in loss from year to year was not substantial.
The company's revenue was GBP245,000, up 43% from GBP171,000 the year before. In April 2018, the company raised net funds of GBP4.6 million from a 9.5 million share placing.
As at April 30 2019, NetScientific's cash stood at GBP3.0 million, with GBP1.7 million held in the company. As such, NetScientific said it has sufficient cash to operate until the end of 2020.
Since the end of 2019, two of NetScientific's portfolio companies - Vortex Biosciences Inc and Wanda Inc - have been sold to Deeptech Disruptive Growth Investments Ltd. The companies were sold in March for GBP112,999 and GBP37,001 respectively.
NetScientific Chief Executive & Chief Financial Officer Ian Postlethwaite said: "Our strategy remains to maximise shareholder value from our portfolio companies. With the disposal of our Vortex and Wanda interests, we can focus using the remaining cash resources on extending the anticipated lifespan of the company."
The company's other portfolio companies are PDS Biotechnology Corp, Glycotest Inc, and ProAxsis Ltd.
Postlethwaite said: "Glycotest and PDS require no further funding at this stage and, whilst ProAxsis does need a small additional injection of GBP100,000 to meet operational requirements as it nears cashflow breakeven, this will be repayable within 2019. All three companies have continued to make good progress during the year and we remain confident in their prospects. In addition, we have taken measures to reduce our central function costs to extend the company's cash runway and it is therefore expected that the company has sufficient cash to operate until the end of 2020."
Shares in NetScientific were up 2.4% at 9.47 pence on Wednesday morning.
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