Physiomics plc (AIM: PYC), the oncology consultancy using mathematical models and its Virtual Tumour™ technology to support the development of cancer treatment regimens and personalised medicine solutions, today announces its financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2019.
Summary financial results
· Revenue of £343k (six months ended 31 December 2018: £324k)
· Total income of £343k (six months ended 31 December 2018: £372k*)
· Operating loss of £118k (six months ended 31 December 2018: £113k)
· Cash and cash equivalents of £434k at 31 December 2019 (31 December 2018: £552k)
· Shareholders’ funds of £532k at 31 December 2019 (31 December 2018: £639k)
* Total income for the six months ended 31 December 2018 includes other operating income, being grant income, of £48k. No grant income is included in the six months ended 31 December 2019.
Operational highlights
Key events in the period include:
· Agreement with Bicycle Therapeutics and CRUK to analyse clinical data from the first in man study of BT1718
· Continued relationship with Merck KGaA for the provision of a range of modelling and simulation services during the course of 2020
· Follow-on contract with CellCentric Ltd for pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PKPD) modelling in support of the clinical development of its lead clinical asset CCS1477
Key event after the period end:
· Two further contracts of undisclosed value with existing client Bicycle Therapeutics have been announced today
Chairman and CEO’s statement
Introduction
Revenue in the first half was around 6% ahead of the comparable period in 2018, although total income was around 8% lower, as no grant income was received during the period. Despite this, operating losses were held steady at £118k, just £5k more than the previous period. Careful management of cash helped the Company to achieve a net cash inflow of £29k during the period, with the Company having cash and cash equivalents of £434k as at 31 December 2019 (30 June 2019: £405k). The second half revenues for the last two financial years have significantly exceeded those of the first half and the Board expects this trend to continue in the current financial year. Notably, in the last financial year, the majority of the Company’s grant income was recognised in the first half whereas in the current financial year, any grant income received would start to be recognised in the second half (January to June 2020).
Business strategy update
The Company is very pleased to be attracting follow-on projects with a range of clients including CellCentric and Bicycle Therapeutics, as well as its long-term client Merck KGaA (“Merck”). These projects span a number of key approaches to cancer therapy, including immuno-oncology, radiotherapy and DNA damage/repair agents. In parallel with ensuring repeat business, the Company is highly focused on identifying new clients and, to this end, it has made, and will continue to make, significant investments in marketing, including:
· Attendance at key industry conferences;
· Additional external business development support to complement internal capabilities/capacity;
· Digital marketing via targeted advertisements on the widely used business platform, LinkedIn;
· Subscription to databases allowing the Company to track potential oncology clients as they attract funding and progress their programs to stages of development where we can support them; and
· Direct marketing telephone campaigns targeted at relevant potential clients.
The Company is also in the final stages of securing a further grant in respect of its personalised oncology offering. A further announcement will be made in due course, as and when appropriate.
Outlook
We are looking forward to a solid second half underpinned by significant contracted revenues from Merck, Bicycle Therapeutics and CellCentric, as well as other potential projects with existing and new clients.
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