Revenues collapsed after a “largely challenging” full trading year at Belfast-based medical specialist Fusion Antibodies.
The London AIM-listed company, which specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, said sales in the year to March 31 more than halved from £2.9 million to £1.14 million.
But the forward-looking picture at the one-time Queen’s University spin-out, founded in 2001, look brighter, as it sits on a healthy order book.
“We have had a largely challenging FY24, with the industry experiencing significant headwinds especially in the venture capital funded bio-tech sector,” chief executive Dr Adrian Kinkaid told investors.
“A number of clients had consequently delayed initiating their projects with us as a result of this. Having said that, we are starting to see an improvement and we did complete a successful fund-raise for further investment into the business in February.
“Since the year end, we have increased commercial activity and had more success, with a number of new agreements signed. The OptiMAL programme is continuing to go well, and we are seeing more traction in the field as the year progresses.
“We remain positive about the future of the company and are, as always, thankful to our dedicated shareholders for their constant support.
“As we continue to meet our objectives on our strategy toward break-even and profitability, we have no plans to raise cash through an equity placement.”
That fund-raise announced in February raised £1.37m before expenses for general working capital and investment into commercial activities.
There was been a significant spike in sales pipeline opportunities at Fusion Antibodies during the second half of the trading year, and its order book at the end of March, at £0.75m, represents 65% of its total audited revenues.
Also, the company’s cash position at year-end stood at £1.2m compared to just £200,000 at the same time in 2023.
Share prices on Thursday opened at £3.15 following their previous close at £2.95.
In January the firm’s share price peaked at £7.20.
