Microsaic Systems plc Trading Statement (6319R)
December 13 2016 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMMSYS
RNS Number : 6319R
Microsaic Systems plc
13 December 2016
13 December 2016
Microsaic Systems plc
("Microsaic", "Microsaic Systems" or the "Company")
Trading Update
Microsaic Systems plc (AIM: MSYS), the developer of chip-based
mass spectrometry ("MS") instruments, designed to improve the
efficiency of pharmaceutical ("Pharma") R&D, announces a
trading update as it approaches its year end.
Overview
It is expected that EBITDA and pre-tax profit for 2016 will be
broadly in line with market expectations at the time of the August
fundraising and an improvement over 2015. The Company has reshaped
its business strategy to focus on the Pharma market where clear
opportunities exist for the Company's products and this has
strengthened our customer relationships. Despite progress on many
fronts, the business has encountered challenging trading conditions
in a particular market sector, especially in the second half of
2016, which are expected to influence our rate of growth in
2017.
Operations
Sales in 2016 are ahead of those in 2015 by approximately 8%,
and are expected to be substantially ahead of this in 2017. As part
of our communicated strategy, we continue to work on specific
analytical methodologies with prospective OEM partners towards the
development of innovative and integrated analytical systems
designed to improve the Pharma decision-making process. We are
confident that the continuing development of our MS instrument will
enable our current and potential OEM partners to explore new
application areas. To that end, different functional aspects of the
instrument are currently being evaluated by our existing and
prospective OEM partners.
The manufacture of core components of our MS instruments
continues to be streamlined in-house and the transfer of external
manufacturing to a new contract manufacturer for non-core
components has been successful.
Finance
Total sales of over GBP0.8 million are expected for 2016, 8%
above 2015.
It is expected that EBITDA and pre-tax profit for 2016 will be
broadly in line with market expectations at the time of the August
fundraising.
The Company's cash position is forecast to be approximately
GBP5.7 million at 31 December 2016, which is in line with
expectations provided in August 2016.
Corporate
As announced on 28 September 2016, our Chairman Colin Nicholl
will be retiring from the Board at the end of January 2017. We
would like to reiterate our thanks to Colin for his support and
leadership since his appointment as Chairman in July 2013. The
Company is undertaking a process to find a successor and will
update shareholders on our progress in due course.
Jim Ramage, CEO, commented:
"2016 was a year of change, refocusing the strategy and getting
the finances under control, which included undertaking a successful
financing. Despite slower than anticipated revenue growth I am
pleased to say that EBITDA and pre-tax profit in 2016 are forecast
to improve over 2015 results and to be broadly in line with market
expectations. The Company continues to focus on signing up one
additional OEM each year to grow our business, increase sales and
move forwards towards profitability. As we stated in August, our
strategy is now focused on the pharma sector and we will continue
to refine this strategy through 2017. The Company would like to
take this opportunity to thank its employees for their commitment
and hard work during the year and to shareholders both old and new
for their support in ensuring the Company has the funding to fully
implement its strategy."
Enquiries:
Microsaic Systems plc
Jim Ramage, CEO
Bevan Metcalf, FD +44 (0) 1483 751577
N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser
& Broker)
Shaun Dobson
Liz Yong +44 (0)20 7496 3000
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
(Financial PR)
Mark Swallow, Marine Perrier +44 (0)20 7282 2948/1068
About Microsaic Systems
Microsaic Systems plc is a high technology company developing
chip-based, bench-top mass spectrometry ("MS") instruments that are
designed to improve the efficiency of Pharma R&D. MS is an
analytical technique of choice for biochemists across many industry
sectors.
Microsaic aims to bring routine MS analysis to the
pharmaceutical scientist, providing powerful methods of analysis to
enable earlier decision making relating to product identification,
purity and bioactivity.
The Company is working with established global companies in
preparative and purification science with expertise in Pharma and
life sciences to co-develop new, integrated and optimised,
application-specific, solutions to improve productivity in the
development of small molecule and novel biologic (peptides,
antibodies) medicines.
The Microsaic 4000 MiD(R), single quadrupole, is the world's
smallest MS system, retaining the functionality of larger
conventional MS systems, is easier to use by non-specialists,
consumes less energy and has lower running costs. The Company is
also developing new MS systems, based on its patented chip
technologies, to address further areas of emerging need in Pharma
R&D.
Microsaic Systems was established in 2001 by a team including
founders from Imperial College London, and was admitted to AIM in
2011 (ticker: MSYS).
www.microsaic.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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