TIDMPRM
RNS Number : 8681J
Proteome Sciences PLC
15 September 2016
15(th) September 2016
Proteome Sciences plc
("Proteome Sciences" or the "Company")
INTERIM RESULTS
Proteome Sciences today releases its unaudited interim results
for the six months ended 30(th) June 2016.
Financial highlights:
-- Revenues to 30(th) June increased 32% to GBP1.12m (2015: GBP0.85m)
-- Licences/sales/services revenues increased 44% to GBP1.08m (2015: GBP0.75m)
-- TMT(R) reagent sales increased 27%
-- Administrative expenses increased to GBP2.27m (2015:
GBP2.07m) to fund new equipment and recruitment
-- Loss after tax GBP1.49m (2015: GBP1.44m)
Commenting on these results, Jeremy Haigh, Chief Executive
Officer of Proteome Sciences, said:
"We are pleased to report that performance during the first six
months of 2016 has been in line with expectations, and it is
encouraging that revenues remain well ahead of the equivalent
period in 2015 despite some delays to significant service contracts
which are now scheduled to generate income later in the year.
Managing the progress and delivery of a limited number of these
core projects remains fundamental to the performance of our
business. Our exclusive license to provide isobaric tagging
reagents (TMT(R) ) to Thermo Scientific is increasingly profitable
and sales growth is projected for the foreseeable future.
The widespread adoption of proteomics as a critical enabling
technology for the discovery and development of targeted
therapeutics continues to gather pace, and with it the opportunity
for new entrants to this market which will require us to be more
competitive with our service offering, more efficient in the use of
our resources, and potentially more radical as we re-evaluate the
core elements of our business.
This is the first set of results since my appointment as CEO and
I would like to thank all the staff at Proteome Sciences, our
customers and collaborators, for their support over the last three
months".
For further information:
Proteome Sciences plc
Jeremy Haigh, Chief Executive Officer
Ian Pike, Chief Scientific Officer Tel: +44 (0)1932 865065
Geoff Ellis, Chief Financial Officer
finnCap Limited (Nominated adviser & broker)
Geoff Nash/James Thompson Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 0500
Tony Quirke (broking)
IKON Associates (Public Relations)
Adrian Shaw Tel: +44 (0)1483 271291
About Proteome Sciences plc. (www.proteomics.com)
Proteome Sciences is a leader in applied proteomics offering
high sensitivity, proprietary technologies and workflows for
mapping cell signalling pathways (SysQuant(R) , TMTcalibrator(TM) )
and for the discovery, validation and assay development of protein
biomarkers. The company has its headquarters in Cobham, UK, with
laboratory facilities in London, UK and in Frankfurt, Germany from
where the PS Biomarker Services(TM) division provides outsourced
proteomics services and proprietary biomarker assays to
biopharmaceutical and diagnostics companies and to academia.
Proteome Sciences has patented a number of novel protein
biomarkers for diagnostic and treatment applications in important
areas of human therapeutics such as cancer, stroke and Alzheimer's
disease, and these are available for license.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Chief Executive Officer's Report
Biomarker Services
Our services business has been solid during the first six
months, with new inquiries significantly directed towards the use
of TMTcalibrator(TM) as clients search for particularly challenging
biomarkers to support their drug development programs. We have
measured non-human proteins in pre-clinical studies, enabling
better-informed decisions about the promise of experimental
medicines, and analysed clinical trial samples from two phase 1
studies confirming mechanism of action and providing insight into
biomarker changes that may be useful in monitoring treatment
effect. SysQuant(R) continues to perform well as the advent of
precision medicine fuels the need to understand changes in protein
expression and activity. However, the conversion of client interest
into formal contract work and repeat business has been less
reliable than anticipated for both our major service platforms.
Moreover, some established contracts have been slower to reach
agreed milestones than expected, delaying revenues into the second
half although we don't anticipate this will have a material impact
on 2016.
Bioinformatics
Following development of SysQuant(R) and TMTcalibrator(TM) we
identified the importance of simplifying data outputs for our
clients, and have now completed the production and testing of a
suite of new bioinformatics tools which can extract the most
pertinent knowledge from high-complexity proteomics studies with
minimal user interaction. We are now able to reduce the data
processing and analysis times in internal research programs by more
than 50% while improving the quality of information generated, and
we anticipate that these new bioinformatics products will enhance
the value of SysQuant(R) and TMTcalibrator(TM) and open up new
commercial opportunities for the analysis of third-party data
sets.
Licences
Orders for our TMT(R) reagents have grown strongly during the
first half and are principally responsible for our overall year on
year growth in revenues as research groups recognise the benefits
of multiplexing samples. However, isobaric tagging represents only
a small part of the total proteomics market and scope remains for
considerable further growth in TMT(R) revenues as adoption by
several key opinion leaders spreads through the wider research
community. Reagent synthesis in Frankfurt is running near capacity
while work continues to develop new reagents which will enable the
parallel analysis of more biological samples (so called 'higher
plexing' solutions). Introduction of such follow-on products is
clearly important for the isobaric tagging market and we are
working closely with our exclusive licensee, Thermo Scientific, to
introduce such improvements as soon as possible. While progress has
been slower than anticipated, and delivery is unlikely before the
end of 2017, continued TMT(R) sales growth is projected for the
foreseeable future.
As communicated in the recent trading update, launch of the CE
marked stroke diagnostic is now scheduled for the second half of
2017 to allow the incorporation of a new class of antibodies
generated during the first half by Randox. These antibodies have
been validated against all the stroke marker proteins covered by
our IP and of interest for this diagnostic, and they deliver
significantly improved assay sensitivity. Trials to generate the
necessary registration data will be performed after assembly of the
final array and a Research Use Only product is still expected to be
available ahead of the CE marked assay.
Cancer
As clinical evidence accumulates that different tumour types
respond well to targeted therapeutics, cancer continues to be a
focus of our current research programs aimed at validating the
utility of proteomics. Data collection from 15 hepatocellular
carcinoma samples was completed in June for the retrospective trial
using SysQuant(R) to predict a response to the kinase inhibitor
sorafenib. Preliminary analysis of these data is encouraging,
showing differences in both the expression and activation of
several proteins which may ultimately allow the prediction of a
drug response, and a prospective trial is being planned to address
this.
Alzheimer's Disease
Attention has recently been focused on the tau protein in
advance of the long awaited LMTX Phase 3 trial results from TauRx
which proved equivocal. Efficacy in a subset of treatment naïve
patients analysed retrospectively was sufficient to generate media
enthusiasm despite the failure to meet co-primary endpoints, but
the consequence of this for broader biopharmaceutical interest in
the tau pathway remains unclear, particularly as the companion
trial in fronto-temporal dementia was negative. We continue to
discuss the treatment potential of our CK1D inhibitors, which
recently entered a due diligence review, and to develop a general
diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease on behalf the Genting TauRx
Diagnostic Centre.
Increasing public and private investment in Alzheimer's disease
research over recent years is leading to greater optimism about the
potential for disease-modifying agents and a spate of publications
about the critical importance of identifying early blood-borne
predictors of neurodegeneration. A recent study performed at the
Universities of Oxford, Cardiff and King's College Hospital has
further demonstrated the utility of the protein clusterin, a blood
biomarker jointly discovered by Proteome Sciences and King's
College London, in the prediction of Alzheimer's disease
progression from mild cognitive impairment. Not only do these data
add value to our intellectual property covering clusterin but they
should also inspire interest in our broader biomarker portfolio for
Alzheimer's disease.
Outlook
The importance of early diagnosis and accurate patient selection
have never been greater in a healthcare environment now dominated
by the expectations of patients and the demands of payers.
Proteomics will be routinely employed as an enabling technology
critical to the provision of targeted therapeutics and the
prediction of treatment response, and as a consequence the true
value of our services and workflows is being recognised by many of
our clients. We anticipate that the number and scale of SysQuant(R)
and TMTcalibrator(TM) contracts should increase as more companies
embed the philosophy of precision medicine at the heart of their
research and development activities. While this represents a
compelling opportunity, there is a fundamental need for us to
broaden our customer base in an increasingly competitive sector, to
initiate significant, long term contracts with established
pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies, and to attract more repeat
business from those with whom we have worked for the first time.
Success requires that we simplify our message and communicate more
directly to those who stand to benefit most from our expertise. To
this end we are currently revising and updating our website, with a
view to relaunching it in Q4 2016, and working with our partners
and collaborators to ensure that the results of studies using our
platform technologies reach the widest possible audience.
We have achieved good revenue growth over the first six months
and expect this to continue for the full year. We look forward to
broadening our customer base as the adoption of proteomics
accelerates.
Jeremy Haigh
Chief Executive Officer
14(th) September 2016
Chief Financial Officer's Report
Revenues in the first half are 32% ahead of the equivalent
period in 2015, increasing to GBP1.12m from GBP0.85m. This
significant increase is driven principally by strong sales of our
TMT(R) reagents. We received our largest ever TMT(R) order and
associated royalty payment in Q2. The first half performance would
have been better still but for the delay to a major service
contract which has started three months later than expected.
However, administrative expenses in the period have also increased
by 9.3% from GBP2.1m to GBP2.3m due to the costs associated with a
new Fusion mass spectrometer, and recruitment of the new Chief
Executive Officer who joined the company on June 1(st) .
The loss before taxation of GBP1.8m is broadly similar to last
year and cash outflows were reduced to GBP1.4m. As at 30(th) June
2016, the Group had cash resources of GBP0.6m and the directors are
confident that they will be able to raise additional financing
should it be required.
There have been large movements to both Dollar and Euro foreign
exchange rates since the Brexit vote on 24(th) June, but they did
not impact the first half and are not expected to have a material
effect on the overall financial performance given increases both in
our foreign denominated revenues and in the costs of our Frankfurt
facility.
Geoff Ellis
Chief Financial Officer
14(th) September 2016
Consolidated income statement
For the six months ended 30th June, 2016
Six months Six months
ended ended
30th June 30th June
2016 2015
(unaudited) (unaudited)
Note GBP'000 GBP'000
Continuing operations
Revenue
Licences/sales/services 1,082 748
Grant services 40 102
--------- ---------
Revenue 1,122 850
Cost of sales (527) (372)
--------- ---------
Gross profit 595 478
Administrative expenses (2,265) (2,073)
--------- ---------
Operating loss (1,670) (1,595)
Finance income 1 1
Finance costs (127) (123)
--------- ---------
Loss before taxation (1,796) (1,717)
Tax credit 300 275
--------- ---------
Loss for the period (1,496) (1,442)
--------- ---------
Attributed to shareholders of the
Company (1,496) (1,442)
--------- ---------
Loss per share
Basic and diluted 3 (0.66p) (0.67p)
--------- ---------
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income
For the six months ended 30th June, 2016
Six months Six months
ended ended
30th June 30th June
2016 2015
(unaudited) (unaudited)
GBP'000 GBP'000
Loss for the period (1,496) (1,442)
--------------------- -------------------
Other comprehensive income for the period
Exchange differences on translation of foreign
operations 48 (57)
--------------------- -------------------
Total comprehensive expense for the period
attributable to equity holders of the company (1,448) (1,499)
===================== ===================
Consolidated balance sheet
As at 30th June, 2016
30th June 31st December
2016 2015
(unaudited) (audited)
GBP'000 GBP'000
Non-current assets
Goodwill 4,218 4,218
Property, plant and
equipment 729 857
Equipment on loan 118 237
-------------- ------------
5,065 5,312
-------------- ------------
Current assets
Inventories 364 291
Trade and other receivables 1,413 1,318
Cash and cash equivalents 610 1,808
-------------- ------------
2,387 3,417
-------------- ------------
Total assets 7,452 8,729
-------------- ------------
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables (859) (779)
Short-term borrowings (8,570) (8,443)
Short-term provisions (35) 0
-------------- ------------
(9,464) (9,222)
-------------- ------------
Net current liabilities (7,077) (5,805)
-------------- ------------
Non-current liabilities
Hire purchase payables (249) (386)
Long-term provisions (306) (276)
-------------- ------------
(555) (662)
-------------- ------------
Total liabilities (10,019) (9,884)
-------------- ------------
Net liabilities (2,567) (1,155)
============== ============
Equity
Share capital 2,280 2,280
Share premium account 48,986 48,986
Share-based payment
reserve 3,438 3,402
Other reserve 10,755 10,755
Translation reserve (140) (188)
Retained loss (67,886) (66,390)
-------------- ------------
Total equity (deficit) (2,567) (1,155)
============== ============
Consolidated cash flow statement
For the six months to 30th June, 2016
Six months Six months
ended ended
30th June 30th June
2016 2015
Note (Unaudited) (Unaudited)
GBP'000 GBP'000
Cash flows from operating
activities
Cash used in operations
4 (1,252) (1,460)
Tax paid (1) (20)
-------- --------
Net cash outflow from operating
activities (1,253) (1,480)
-------- --------
Cash flows from investing
activities
Purchases of property, plant
and equipment (13) (42)
Interest received 1 1
-------- --------
Net cash outflow from investing
activities (12) (41)
-------- --------
Financing activities
Repayment of hire purchase (137) -
payables
-------- --------
Net cash outflow from financing (137) -
activities
-------- --------
Net decrease in cash and
cash equivalents (1,402) (1,521)
Cash and cash equivalents
at beginning of period 1,808 1,868
Effect of foreign exchange
rate changes 204 120
-------- --------
Cash and cash equivalents
at end of period 610 467
-------- --------
Notes
For the six months to 30(th) June, 2016
1. These interim consolidated financial statements have been
prepared using accounting policies based on International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS and IFRIC Interpretations) issued by the
International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB") as adopted for
use in the EU. They do not include all disclosures that would
otherwise be required in a complete set of financial statements and
should be read in conjunction with the 31(st) December 2015 Annual
Report. The financial information for the half years ended 30(th)
June 2016 and 30(th) June 2015 does not constitute statutory
accounts within the meaning of Section 434 (3) of the Companies Act
2006 and both periods are unaudited.
The annual financial statements of Proteome Sciences plc are
prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union.
The comparative financial information for the year ended 31(st)
December 2015 included within this report does not constitute the
full statutory Annual Report for that period. The statutory Annual
Report and Financial Statements for 2015 have been filed with the
Registrar of Companies. The Independent Auditors' Report on the
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31(st)
December 2015 was unqualified, but did include a reference to the
uncertainty surrounding going concern, to which the auditors drew
attention by way of emphasis and did not contain a statement under
498(2) - (3) of the Companies Act 2006.
Going Concern for the six-month period to 30(th) June 2016 is
considered in note 2.
The same accounting policies, presentation and methods of
computation are followed in these interim consolidated financial
statements as were applied in the Group's 31(st) December 2015
annual audited financial statements. In addition, the IASB have
issued a number of IFRS and IFRIC amendments or interpretations
since the last Annual Report was published. The directors have not
yet considered whether any of these will have a material impact on
the Group. The Board of Directors approved this interim report on
14(th) September 2016.
2. Going Concern
These interim financial statements have been prepared on the
going concern basis. The Directors have reviewed the Group's going
concern position taking account of its current business activities,
budgeted performance and the factors likely to affect its future
development.
As at 30(th) June 2016, the Group had cash resources of GBP0.6m,
realised a loss for the six months ended 30(th) June 2016 ("the
half-year") of GBP1.5m, had net cash outflows from operating
activities of GBP1.25m for the half-year and had net current
liabilities of GBP7.1m.
The directors have prepared cash flow forecasts covering a
period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of the
interim financial statements. If the forecast is achieved, the
Group will be able to operate within its existing facilities,
however the timeline required to close sales contracts and the
order value of individual sales continues to vary considerably,
which constrain the ability to accurately predict revenue
performance. Furthermore, the Group's products are still in the
research and development phase and as such the directors consider
that costs could exceed income in the short term. The directors
therefore consider the group may need to raise financing within the
next 12 months. The directors are confident they will be able to
raise sufficient financing, should it be required, though a
placement of shares or other funding. The directors have a history
of successfully raising financing.
The Group is also dependent on the unsecured loan facility
provided by the Chairman of the Group, which under the terms of the
facility, is repayable on demand. Further details of this facility
are set out in note 19(b) to the 31 December 2015 annual statutory
financial statements. The Directors have received confirmation from
the Chairman that he has no intention of seeking its repayment,
with the facility continuing to be made available to the Group, on
the existing terms, for at least 12 months from the date of
approval of these interim financial statements.
The directors have concluded that the circumstances set forth
above represent a material uncertainty, which may cast significant
doubt about the group's ability to continue as a going concern.
However, they believe that taken as a whole, the factors described
above enable the group to continue as a going concern for the
foreseeable future. The interim financial statements do not include
the adjustments that would be required if the group was unable to
continue as a going concern.
3. Loss per share from continuing operations
Six months Six months
Ended Ended
30(th) June 30(th) June
2016 2015
(unaudited) (unaudited)
GBP GBP
Loss per share
Loss for the purpose of basic loss
per share
being net loss attributable to equity
holders
of the parent (GBP'000) (1,496) (1,442)
-------------- ----------------
Number of shares
Weighted average number of ordinary
shares
for the purpose of basic loss per
share 227,966,732 214,105,600
-------------- ----------------
Weighted average number of ordinary
shares
for the purpose of diluted loss per
share 227,966,732 214,105,600
============== ================
4. Cash flow: Reconciliation of operating loss to cash used in operations
Six months Six months
ended ended
30(th) June, 30(th) June,
2016 2015
GBP'000 GBP'000
Operating loss (1,670) (1,595)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation of property, plant and
equipment 276 210
Share-based payment expense 36 36
---------------- --------------
Operating cash flows before movements
in working capital (1,358) (1,349)
(Increase)/Decrease in inventories (73) 45
(Increase) in receivables (95) (202)
Increase in payables 209 92
Increase/(Decrease) in provisions 65 (46)
---------------- --------------
Cash used in operations (1,252) (1,460)
================ ==============
5. Cautionary statement
This document contains certain forward-looking statements
relating to Proteome Sciences plc ('the Group'). The Group
considers any statements that are not historical facts as
"forward-looking statements". They relate to events and trends that
are subject to risk and uncertainty that may cause actual results
and the financial performance of the Group to differ materially
from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These
statements are made by the directors in good faith based on
information available to them and such statements should be treated
with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both
economic and business risk factors, underlying any such
forward-looking information.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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