IXICO PLC (AIM:IXI, OTC:PHYOF) said revenues in the year to end 30 September 2021 will beat market forecasts even with the halting of a Huntington’s disease trial by its largest customer.
Full-year revenue will be GBP9.2mln (2020: GBP9.5mln) compared to forecasts of GBP8.7mln, which had been reduced after the Huntington’s trial news.
The end of that trial also wiped GBP7.1mln from the order book, which at the year-end was GBP18.8mln (GBP21.7mln).
Underlying earnings this year however will be materially ahead of market expectations of GBP1.2mln and prior year (2020: GBP1.3mln) after a strong final quarter, cost controls and several one-time boosts.
Cash at the year-end was GBP6.7mln after GBP2mln of technology investment, added the neuroimaging specialist,
Revenue will grow in the 2022 financial year, it said, but at a slower rate than recently, while ongoing investment and the absence of the one-off gains seen in 2021 will mean profitability in 2022 will be lower.
Giulio Cerroni, IXICO’s chief executive, added: “Despite a challenging business environment, we announced contracts with several new clients, initiating early-stage clinical trials contracts across a widened range of neurological therapeutic indications.
“We go into 2022 with an established track record of delivery, substantiated by a 25% 5-year revenue CAGR, a further year of growing profitability and a strengthened balance sheet.
“With an ageing population and the high unmet clinical need for new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and other rarer neurological conditions, we remain very confident in the medium- and long-term opportunity for the scale-up of our business.”
