REG - Byotrol PLC - Trading Update

ByotrolAnnouncement

07/09/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 6203L  Byotrol PLC  07 September 2023

 

 

 

 

Byotrol Plc

 

("Byotrol" or the "Company")

 

Trading update

 

As announced with our final results in July, our FY 2023 results were in line
with expectations, with sales of £4.6m, a significant improvement in product
gross profit margin to 43% and an EBITDA loss of £0.7m.

 

Our operating strategy remains unchanged, comprising:

·    focus - on 4 core technology platforms including the Cruise platform
that we believe will receive regulatory approval across  Europe in early
2025.  The plan is to  monetise this  by:

o  product sales in animal and human health segments,

o  IP sales in other segments or where cost of market entry is high, such as
the US;

·    radical improvement in operations and systems across the whole
company, further increasing efficiency and profit margins

We are pleased to confirm good progress in FY 2024 in the majority of our
activities, including:

 

·    Strong growth on the new Anigene formulation in animal health, which
we launched in Nov 2022 and YTD is growing +31% vs the prior year.

·    The launch of our new Chemgene MedLab formulation in human health in
August 2023, the second launch in the UK based on our "Cruise" technology
platform.

·    Further operational improvements through embedding of service levels,
key account management and ecommerce expansion, resulting in further gross
margin improvement of 1% so far this financial year.

·    Continued tight management of costs and budgeting, keeping costs flat
vs FY 2023 at £2.8m, despite the wage and input cost inflation impacting the
UK.

Despite this continued progress, we have seen revenue fall behind expectations
in two areas:

 

·    in Europe we are seeing slower growth in product sales than expected
due to longer timelines of registration and key account uptake. Whist we have
secured registration and our first sales for Anigene in France, we now expect
to secure the registration in Germany, and of Chemgene in the 2H of FY 2024.

·    The impact of discontinuations of some legacy products including
medical devices, has been greater than expected.   Whilst this remains a key
part of the strategy, the discontinuations have impacted overall revenues.

 

IP sales remain encouraging, with traction now being gained by our biggest
licensees and alliance partners.  As normal, we are unable to predict with
certainty the impact this will have on our profits in the current year, but we
are already confident of generating approximately £1m alone in cash from
IP.  Given the continued volatile market environment - and our wish to
continue investing in growth - we will continue to focus IP efforts this year
on cash rather than new multi-year agreements with minimum guaranteed
royalties.

 

 

Outlook

 

The combination of slower growth in Europe and prioritising cash from IP means
we now expect to be around breakeven this current financial year with
significant profitability in FY2025.

 

Based on current projections the Directors remain confident that the Company
has sufficient cash resources to execute on its current strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

For further information contact:

 

 Byotrol Plc
 Dr Trevor Francis, Non- Executive Chairman                                           +44 (0)1925 742 000
 Vivan Pinto, Chief Executive Officer

 Chris Sedwell, Chief Financial Officer

 finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)                                       +44 (0)20 7220 0500
 Geoff Nash/George Dollemore - Corporate Finance

 Nigel Birks/Harriet Ward - ECM

 Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications                                      +44 (0)20 7129 1474
 Tim Thompson/Andrea Seymour/Fergus Mellon                                            byotrol@flagstaffcomms.com (mailto:byotrol@flagstaffcomms.com)

 

 

 

 

This announcement is released by Byotrol Plc and, prior to publication, the
information contained herein was deemed to constitute inside information under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Such information is disclosed
in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

 

Notes to editors

 

Byotrol plc (BYOT.L), quoted on AIM, is a specialist infection prevention and
control company, operating globally in the Healthcare, Industrial, Food and
Consumer sectors, providing low toxicity products with a broad-based and
targeted efficacy across all microbial classes; bacteria, viruses (including
coronavirus), fungi, moulds, mycobacteria and algae.

 

Byotrol's products can be used stand-alone or as ingredients within existing
products, where they can significantly improve their performance, especially
in personal hygiene, domestic and industrial disinfection, odour control, food
production and food management.

 

Byotrol develops and commercialises technologies that create easier, safer and
cleaner lives for everyone.

 

For more information, go to byotrol.com

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