Issued on behalf of Premaitha Health plc
Manchester, UK: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Premaitha Health PLC
(“Premaitha” or “the Company”)
Half Year Results
Manchester, UK – 21 December 2016: Premaitha Health (AIM: NIPT), developer of a leading CE-marked non-invasive prenatal screening system, announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2016.
Financial position
• Revenues increased by 130% to £1.5m (H1 15/16: £0.6m) to a diversified international client base
• Gross profit of £0.6m, 41% of revenues (H1 15/16: £0.3m, 41%)
• General administrative expenses of £3.9m (H1 15/16: £2.9m) reflecting investment in development, commercial and operations capabilities
• Loss on ordinary activities before taxation of £3.6m (H1 15/16: £4.4m)
• Cash balance at the period end was £2.7m (H1 15/16: £6.6m)
• Further £4.0m investment by Thermo Fisher in form of loan extension and warrants
Operational highlights
• Transformative acquisition of Yourgene Bioscience, Taiwan, please see separate announcement
• The IONA® test is now installed in 13 laboratories across Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia
• Premaitha now supplies over 50 UK hospitals through client laboratories and in-house clinical service
• NHS to make non-invasive prenatal screening tests (“NIPT”) available for high risk cases from 2018
• Reshaping European distribution network:
Advanced talks with major European laboratory chain
Swiss customer, Genoma, facing financial challenges
Extending successful distributor coverage
• Sizeable growth opportunities in the Middle East and Asia
• Litigation hearings scheduled for summer 2017, EU Competition Commission investigation into Illumina ongoing
Appointment of Adam Reynolds as Chairman
Dr Stephen Little, CEO of Premaitha, said:
“We are very pleased with the progress being made with the IONA® test in the regions where we are operational, and we have positioned ourselves to take advantage of the exceptional opportunities emerging in the Middle East and Asia. A combination of awareness of NIPT along with the reputation of the IONA® test for reliability and accuracy, has resulted in the IONA® test being adopted by both new laboratories and by customers who have already tried offering NIPT through alternative providers.
“Within Europe and the Middle East we continue to make excellent progress with a substantial pipeline of new customers that we believe will generate significant revenues in the medium term. Although Genoma’s financial difficulties will affect current year sales, the momentum of other contracts from our diversified customer base will more than compensate for this in the next financial year and beyond.”
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
View Interim Report – Sept 2016 PDF
For more information, please contact:
Premaitha Health plc
Dr Stephen Little, Chief Executive Office
Joanne Cross, Head of Marketing
investors@premaitha.com
Tel: +44 (0) 161 667 6865
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
Liam Murray
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7148 7900
finnCap (Joint Broker)
Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson (Corporate Finance)
Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking)
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
Vigo Communications
Ben Simons / Fiona Henson / Antonia Pollock
premaitha@vigocomms.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7830 9700
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.
