9th Jun 2011 07:15
9 June 2011 Source BioScience plc (`Source BioScience', the `Group') ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING STATEMENT
Laurie Turnbull, Chairman of Source BioScience, will be making the following comments at the 2011 Annual General Meeting to be held today at 10.30am:
"Since our last AGM twelve months ago, we have seen the continued growth and development of Source BioScience, with the acquisition of new technologies and access to new markets, thereby consolidating and building on strong business foundations.
"The recently issued Interim Management Statement reported a strong start to the current financial year, with revenues increased by 19% compared with the same period in 2010.
Healthcare
"Our Healthcare operations, providing screening and diagnostic services to the NHS, continue to be profitable and cash generative. The increasing demand for companion diagnostic testing, in parallel with the growing demand for targeted therapies, represents a significant growth opportunity.
"We have recently added to our portfolio of diagnostic and screening services by offering a range of human papillomavirus (`HPV') tests, not yet routinely available on the NHS, therefore fulfilling a clinical requirement but as yet unmet demand. From September this year, we expect HPV testing to be integrated into the cervical cancer screening programme in England and Wales.
"Source BioScience has also recently become the first company in its field to be granted direct connection to the N3 network, the NHS national IT network linking hospitals, medical centres and GPs in England and Scotland. This will ensure timely and accurate transmission of patient information, benefiting clinicians and patients alike. This provides Source BioScience with a real competitive advantage over other potential service providers.
"We are also delighted to report that Source BioScience, in partnership with Barts Cancer Institute and Illumina, has been awarded a prestigious grant by the Technology Strategy Board to develop a novel approach to cancer diagnosis and personalised treatment for patients. The aim is to create an integrated genetic test that characterises cancer tumours to help improve diagnosis and treatment outcome for patients. An award of this nature reflects the technical expertise and scientific credibility of the team at Source BioScience.
LifeSciences and PharmaBiotech
"We have forged a leading position in the UK and Continental Europe for the provision of DNA sequencing services, including both conventional and next generation sequencing technologies.
The integration of the imaGenes acquisition continues to progress well, and to plan. Our second HiSeq2000 platform has been installed in Berlin and is currently engaged on projects that have been secured locally in Germany, in addition to ones secured in the UK.
"Investment in these cutting-edge technologies demonstrates the Company's commitment to be the market leader in Europe for the provision of expert, high quality laboratory services to the life science and healthcare markets.
"In addition to the capital investment in cutting-edge platforms and facilities, a number of initiatives are underway which will complement the class-leading infrastructure Source BioScience has developed. These initiatives will fundamentally change the way in which customers can access our services and products, providing the fastest service turnaround times and powerful product search functionality. A number of these initiatives are planned for launch later this month.
"In providing services to pharma and biotech companies, Source BioScience is well placed to benefit from the restructuring and outsourcing trends occurring within the sector. We are seeing increased interest from these companies who are looking ever more closely at the genetics of disease in order to develop new therapies. The promotion of our genomic capability to companies requiring genetic analysis as part of their pre-clinical research and development programmes, as well as emerging pharmacogenomic analysis, is steadily gaining ground as a long term growth area.
Outlook
"Results for the year ended 31 December 2010 demonstrated a growing, profitable and increasingly cash generative business. As a result of the Board's strategy over the past four years, we have built a business that has solid foundations and a bright future, which the Board believes will enhance shareholder value. The robust start to the current financial year represents a continuation of the strong growth and business performance achieved last year.
"With our outstanding reputation for delivery, quality and customer service; strong market position; excellent customer base and secure financial foundation, Source BioScience is ideally placed to exploit the organic growth and acquisition opportunities that will present themselves during the course of the coming year.
"We look forward to updating shareholders further following the release of our interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2011 later this year."
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For further information, please contact:
Source BioScience plcNick AshChief Executive OfficerTel: + 44 (0) 115 973 9010
Singer Capital MarketsShaun Dobson/Claes SpangTel: + 44 (0) 207 149 6000www.singercm.comCollege Hill (PR Agency)Melanie Toyne-Sewell/Dimithri WignarajahTel: +44 (0) 207 457 [email protected]
About Source BioScience
Source BioScience plc is an international diagnostics and genetic analysis business serving the healthcare and research markets.
Its Healthcare operations provide screening and reference laboratory diagnostic testing for cancer and other diseases and additional predictive testing for treatment optimisation for clinicians and patients. The LifeSciences division provides core laboratory research support from conceptualisation to implementation, calling upon a wide range of cutting-edge technology platforms including an online catalogue of biomolecular tools. This incorporates next generation sequencing, conventional sequencing, microarray analysis and whole genome amplification in addition to a comprehensive library of genomic reagents and clones including cDNA and RNAi, as well as facilitating rapid access to high quality antibodies, cell cultures, diagnostic assays for cancer and other genetic testing, and related research tools. PharmaBiotech offers support for early stage therapeutic development, offering a 'one-stop shop' from tissue pathology, immunohistochemistry, sophisticated image analysis, biomarker determination and assay development to pharmacogenomics including genotyping and gene expression analysis.
The Group has its headquarters in Nottingham, UK where it operates state of the art reference laboratory facilities, with additional UK laboratory facilities in London, Cambridge and Oxford and European facilities in Berlin and Dublin.
Source BioScience is CPA, GLP and GCP accredited and licensed by the Care Quality Commission and the Human Tissue Authority.
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