11th Apr 2016 07:00
Premaitha Health plc
Year End Trading Update
Manchester, UK - 11 April 2016: Premaitha Health plc (AIM: NIPT, "Premaitha" or the "Company"), provides a trading update for its financial year ended 31 March 2016.
Revenues of approximately £2.5 million were generated in the IONA® test's first year of commercialisation and are at the upper end of revenue expectations. 75% of those sales were generated in the second half (H1: £0.6m) demonstrating considerable momentum building only one year from the launch of Premaitha's leading CE-marked non-invasive prenatal screening system. The revenues arose primarily from four contracts which operated throughout the second half of the year, augmented by a broadening portfolio of smaller customers utilising the Company's service laboratory. As previously announced, a further six laboratory customers are in the installation phase and are expected to start contributing to sales during the first few months of the new financial year. Cash at 31 March 2016 was £5.4 million.
The geographic spread of customers across the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America also demonstrates the global potential of the IONA® test and its international competitiveness. To capitalise on these opportunities, Premaitha is expanding its commercial team and has recently hired senior sales representatives based in Asia Pacific and Europe.
Stephen Little, CEO, commented: "We are very encouraged by sales in our first year of trading and particularly the growth momentum that we take into the new financial year. A broader international footprint opens up opportunities in territories with differing competitive, regulatory and intellectual property landscapes. Overall, the NIPT marketplace is developing in the way we anticipated and we believe Premaitha's ability to offer a complete CE-marked system represents a very significant opportunity."
For more information, please contact:
Premaitha Health plc | Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865 |
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Office |
|
Barry Hextall, Chief Financial Officer Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing |
|
| |
|
|
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7148 7900 |
Liam Murray / Avi Robinson |
|
|
|
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 |
Robert Naylor (Corporate Finance) / Maisie Rose Atkinson (Sales) |
|
|
|
finnCap (Joint Broker) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson (Corporate Finance) |
|
Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking) |
|
|
|
Vigo Communications | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7830 9700 |
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson |
|
|
About Premaitha
Premaitha is a molecular diagnostics company which uses the latest advances in DNA analysis technology to develop safer, faster and regulatory approved non-invasive screening tests for pregnant women.
Premaitha's lead test - the IONA® test - was launched in February 2015 and is the leading CE marked complete system which estimates the risk of a fetus being affected with Down's syndrome or other genetic conditions. The IONA® test is performed on the mother's blood sample - which contains traces of fetal DNA - and then analysed using next generation DNA sequencing technology from ThermoFisher Scientific.
Unlike existing prenatal screening methods, due to its high level of accuracy, the IONA® test can significantly reduce the number of women subjected to unnecessary stressful and invasive follow up diagnostic procedures which are costly, resource intensive and carry a risk of miscarriage.
Non-invasive prenatal screening is an emerging, multi-billion dollar global market and Premaitha's complete CE Marked system enables laboratories and health care practitioners to offer an approved, non-invasive prenatal screening system in-house.
Premaitha is based in Manchester Science Park, United Kingdom and its shares trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: NIPT). For further information please visit www.premaitha.com. Follow us on twitter @PremaithaHealth.
Related Shares:
YGEN.L