KRAKOW, Poland, March 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
Selvita (WSE: SLV), a clinical stage company engaged in the
research and development of novel cancer therapies as well as
provision of drug discovery and development services, today
announced that it has, recognized dynamic growth last year in the
Services Division. The segment's revenues from external clients
amounted to PLN59.1M, which represents an increase of 34% y/y,
higher than expected 30% growth. Operating profit in the Services
Division rose by 67% to PLN8.8M. Thus, the segment's operating
profitability increased from 10.8% to 13.7%. The Services Division
backlog for 2019** already reached PLN41.7M and is 43% higher than
the portfolio of orders in the same period of 2018. The Innovative
Research Division has reached a major inflection point with the
acceptance of SEL120 IND submission and the initiation of clinical
trials.
The Group's backlog currently amounts to PLN82M and is 19%
higher than the portfolio of orders in March last year.
"The Services Division grew faster last year than we had
originally projected. We delivered higher than expected 30% revenue
growth. We also significantly improved operating margins in this
business unit by roughly 3 percentage points, despite investments
in the development of services and sales. We are aiming to maintain
the pace of the services growth in the years ahead and therefore we
are looking to develop not only via organic growth, but also
through acquisitions of other companies," said Bogusław
Sieczkowski, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Selvita.
Selvita has intensified investment in projects of the Innovative
Research Division, to which it has full property rights, in line
with the assumptions of the strategy for 2017-2021 and owing to the
capital raised in the public offering in the first quarter of 2018.
This concerns both lead candidate SEL120 and less advanced
programs. The Innovative Research Division operating loss was
PLN24.6M in comparison with PLN6.4MM profit one year ago (SEL24
project commercialization with PLN20.3M upfront payment took place
in March 2017).
"At the outset of 2018, we have changed our accounting policy in
terms of recognizing costs of all research and development in the
Innovative Research Division projects. Therefore, we do not
activate the development costs of the most advanced projects, but
we recognize them in the profit and loss statement regularly. In
effect, total expenses incurred in connection with research and
development activities, including SEL120 development, weigh on our
results," explained Bogusław Sieczkowski.
"We have been constantly working on monetizing early stage
projects in our portfolio. Our priority is to optimize value for
the company and its shareholders, with a view to potential
transactions. In 2018, the key accomplishment of the Innovative
Research Division was the recapitalization of Nodthera from
external sources. As a result of a revaluation of the value of
shares in April last year, we recognized PLN16.6M of net income.
With the dynamic development of the project, it is expected that
the value of the company will experience continued growth,"
commented Bogusław Sieczkowski.
Ardigen, the Selvita Group bioinformatics company, also
generated noticeable growth. The Company posted revenues of
PLN11.5M last year (an increase by 53% y/y) and operating profit of
PLN2.2M (42% higher than a year ago). In Q4 2018, Ardigen revenues
climbed to PLN3.9M (an increase of 125% y/y), while EBIT was at
PLN1.2M (versus a PLN0.1M loss a year ago).
"Ardigen has been growing dynamically in line with expectations.
The company has been engaged with over 30 global clients and
employs 75 highly skilled professionals. Aside from services
provided, Ardigen is increasing its investments in the development
of its own products in the field of personalized medicine in the
area of immunooncology and microbiome. These projects have immense
commercial potential. Despite increased expenditure on product
development, the company generated operating profit of about
PLN2.2M in 2018. We expect that this subsidiary will continue to
grow dynamically in the future, as a result of the developed
service activity and the commercialization of our own products,"
explained Bogusław Sieczkowski.
About Selvita
Selvita is developing novel small
molecule therapies that address emerging targets in oncology with
industry-leading research expertise supported by a research
services division. Pipeline candidates apply diverse mechanisms
directed at kinases, synthetic lethality pathways, immuno-oncology
pathways and other cancer-related targets. SEL24/MEN1703 is a dual
PIM/FLT3 kinase inhibitor licensed to the Menarini Group in
clinical development for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
SEL120 is a CDK8 kinase inhibitor with potential for development in
indications including hematological malignancies and solid tumors.
Selvita is headquartered in Krakow
with offices in the U.S. and U.K.
More info: www.selvita.com
* The result excludes accounting costs of a stock incentive
program ended in Q1 2017 (PLN0.583M in Q1 2017)
** Backlog for 2019 as of 22.03.2019. Backlog for 2018 as of 26.03.2018. Backlog is understood as the value of
the contracted portfolio of orders, resulting from commercial
contracts and grant agreements signed as of the date of publication
of the report
Contact:
Julia Balanova (investors)
+1-646-378-2936
jbalanova@troutgroup.com
Rich Allan (media)
+1-646-378-2958
rallan@troutgroup.com
Piotr Ksiazek (investors and
media, Poland)
+48-501-988-693
p.ksiazek@innervalue.pl
Malgorzata Syjud (corporate)
+48-660-797-362
malgorzata.syjud@selvita.com
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SOURCE Selvita