10th Feb 2015 09:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vernalis PLC Tuesday posted a narrowed pretax loss for 2014, buoyed by the strengthening of the dollar and lower costs, which offset a drop in revenue.
The development stage pharmaceutical company has moved its year end date to June 30, so it will announce its results for the eighteen months to end-June before the end of September.
Vernalis posted a pretax loss of GBP5.2 million for 2014, compared to a pretax loss of GBP6.3 million in 2013. Revenue fell to GBP11.9 million from GBP14.1 million, but this was offset by lower operating costs and buoyed by a GBP2.8 million gain from the weakening of sterling against the dollar.
The fall in revenue was primarily due to lower revenue from the supply of frovatriptan to Italian pharmaceutical company the Menarini Group, due to lower volumes and a hit from the weakening of the euro against the pound.
Vernalis cautioned that its results will continue to be hit by movements in dollar and sterling exchange rates, but stressed this would not affect its ability to execute its US commercial strategy.
The company expects its cash flows to increase as its pipeline of compounds in development with US partner Tris Pharma Inc matures, and development and approval milestones are paid, but said it will not invest in sales infrastructure before products are approved.
Its lead cough cold candidate Tuzistra XR has a new drug application action date of April 30 with the US Food and Drug administration, Vernalis said, and it achieved proofs-of-concept on two other cough-cold products during the year. It is aiming to achieve proof-of-concept for the remaining two cough-cold products in the Tris pipeline in 2015.
"Our financial results remain strong, whilst we continue to prepare for the potential launch of our first cough cold product into the US market this summer," said Chief Executive Officer Ian Garland in a statement.
Shares in Vernalis are trading up 1.0% at 50.50 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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