TIDMBQE
RNS Number : 3767X
Bioquell PLC
19 November 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 November, 2014
Bioquell PLC
Interim Management Statement
Bioquell PLC ("Bioquell") (LSE symbol: BQE) - provider of
specialist bio-contamination control technologies to the
international Healthcare, Life Sciences & Defence markets; and
specialist testing services via its TRaC division, today announces
its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 July, 2014
to 18 November, 2014.
Financial position and financial performance of the Company
Group revenues in the ten month period to the end of October
2014 were approximately 3% behind the same period for last year, in
line with the trading described in the Group's interim results
published in August.
The Group has a strong balance sheet with positive net cash
balances at the end of October.
Ebola
The recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has created
significant interest in the Bio division's equipment and services -
and a modest increase in revenues for such products. Bioquell's
hydrogen peroxide vapour ("HPV") technology has been used to
decontaminate Ebola patient rooms in three hospitals in the USA as
well as in hospitals in the UK, France and Holland. Moreover, we
have been talking to hospitals in Europe and the USA about helping
them with Ebola emergency preparedness and, via our Pod technology,
isolation surge capacity.
At the current time, the number of patients being treated for
Ebola in the USA and Europe has decreased, and our Ebola-related
activity levels are currently reducing. However, based on our
experience of this outbreak to date, it appears likely that should
an increased number of Ebola patients be admitted to hospitals in
the developed world - and, in particular, if there are further
cases of healthcare workers contracting the Ebola virus from
infected patients - then our activity levels would increase once
more.
Our Ebola-related work has heightened awareness of the Group's
capabilities. Given the number of hospitals in Europe and the US
who have used our technology it has helped establish our position
as the "go to" suppliers of sophisticated bio-decontamination
technology, when a customer wants to be confident that there are no
viable micro-organisms left after the disinfection process. In
addition, we now have a substantially broader range of prospective
customers in the US and Europe who we believe will contact us in
the event that they have a microbiological contamination problem,
including issues associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Bioquell's strategic interest remains to work with hospitals to
help them alleviate the clinical and financial challenges posed by
antibiotic resistant bacteria, although we are happy to help
hospitals combat the immediate threat posed by Ebola.
Other healthcare
We deployed twenty Pods, in conjunction with four suites of HPV
equipment, in a Saudi Arabian intensive care unit in advance of the
annual Hajj pilgrimage at Mecca. This was our first substantial Pod
deployment outside the UK. We anticipate that this reference site
will help us generate further Pod and HPV bio-decontamination
revenues from the Middle East.
Life Sciences
We are seeing increasing orders for QUBEs from overseas and our
RBDS service business is performing steadily. Our short term
challenge remains HPV equipment orders for our older products.
We have completed the restructuring of our Asian and US
businesses referred to in our interim report. The annualised cost
savings of GBP1.4m anticipated at the time of our interim report
are still expected to be achieved in 2015. Initial signs from these
changes are encouraging.
Defence
Our standard product CBRN defence business continues to grow. We
are seeing encouraging enquiries from prospective customers in
Europe, the Middle East and Asia. A substantial proportion of our
order book for defence products for next year is now in place.
TRaC
TRaC - the Group's Testing, Regulatory and Compliance division -
continues to trade well with a good performance seen so far in the
second half of the year.
TRaC is making steady progress on extending the range and scope
of its services, beyond its core EMC and environmental testing.
Prospects and Outlook
Trading for the Bio division in the third quarter was in line
with the Board's expectations. As in previous years, we anticipate
receiving substantial equipment orders, particularly from customers
in the Life Sciences sector, in the final quarter and we intend to
fulfil a significant proportion of these orders before the year
end.
TRaC has a strong order book for the remainder of the financial
year and is expected to continue to perform well.
A pre-close trading update will be issued in mid January.
- Ends -
Enquiries
Nigel Keen (Chairman) Bioquell PLC 01264 835 900
Nick Adams (Chief Executive)
Michael Roller (Finance Director)
************************
Notes to Editors
-- Bioquell is a UK-headquartered, international technology
company with two divisions:
o Bio (www.bioquell.com) which sells specialist biological
contamination control products and services into the Healthcare,
Life Sciences and Defence sectors, with most of its revenues
generated from overseas customers; and
o TRaC (www.tracglobal.com) which provides specialist Testing,
Regulatory and Compliance services - including EMC (electromagnetic
compatibility), environmental, safety, ATEX (explosive atmospheres)
radio and telecoms testing - principally to UK corporates.
-- Bioquell's bio-contamination control technology is
principally based around hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) - which is
highly efficacious at eradicating micro-organisms such as bacteria
and viruses at room temperature - and is subsequently broken down
using specialist catalysts to water vapour and oxygen (hence an
extremely 'green' technology) at the end of the bio-decontamination
process.
-- For the last three years Bioquell has invested substantial
sums in developing new products - comprising rental, service and
consumables - which have been designed to increase the proportion
of the Group's recurring revenues (cf. capital equipment
sales).
-- Bioquell's bio-contamination control technology:
o is used by bio-pharmaceutical, biotechnology and research
institutions to provide sterile equipment and/or sterile
facilities;
o is used to eradicate "superbugs" from hospitals including
Clostridium difficile and carbapenemase producing
Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) - sometimes referred to as
carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Independent
scientific research from a team at Johns Hopkins, one of America's
top hospitals, has demonstrated that 'bioquelling' hospital
equipment and facilities resulted in a 64% reduction in the rate of
hospital acquired infection;
o is used to provide single rooms to hospitals (via its ICE-pod
rental service) which currently only have open, multi-bed
"Nightingale" ward structures
o has been incorporated in a wound-care product - BioxyQuell -
which has received regulatory approval for use on chronic wounds in
the European Union; and
-- Bioquell currently has overseas operations in the USA,
France, Ireland, Singapore and China.
TRaC sells its specialist services to the product development
departments of a broad range of companies, principally based in the
UK, with a particular focus on organisations operating in the
aerospace, defence and telecoms sectors. TRaC also has a small team
of technical experts located in China.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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