Notice of Results and Trading

RNS Number : 1995I

Avacta Group PLC

08 March 2010

 



Avacta Group plc

Interim Results Notification and Trading Update

Avacta Group plc ("Avacta" or the "Company"), which provides innovative, high value proprietary technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and diagnostics markets, is pleased to announce a trading update prior to the announcement of interim results on 30 April.

Avacta operates through two divisions:

·    Avacta Analytical, which develops and commercialises world leading analytical products and provides specialized analytical services to the drug development sector;

·    Avacta Animal Health which develops and commercialises diagnostic and rapid point of care testing products and supporting diagnostics services to veterinary healthcare providers.

The Company looks forward to reporting on a period of continued growth at its Interim Results.

Avacta Analytical

Contract service revenues remain on target and well ahead of last year and continue to deliver sustainable, high quality revenues. Avacta's recently launched flagship product Optim has been highly acclaimed industry wide and has already generated significant commercial interest. Although the timing of specific product sales is inherently difficult to accurately predict the Company's significant and growing pipeline gives the Board confidence that its commercial objectives and market expectations will be achieved. The installation of the first unit was completed late last year, and the customer is delighted with the significant operational advantages Optim has brought to their laboratory.

Avacta Animal Health

Revenues are up significantly from the same period last year and, having received considerable interest from potential customers, Avacta looks forward to launching Midas, the Company's flagship animal health instrument, later this financial year.  Midas uses similar technology to Optim; it is a bench top rapid immunoassay system designed to have high sensitivity for protein markers of disease.

On 3rd March 2010 we announced the acquisition of Reactivlab which has served to expand the range of veterinary diagnostic tests delivered by Avacta Animal Health. The Company believes that the business has great potential to deliver strong sales of these tests, commercialised as a laboratory service, in kit form and on the Midas point-of-care platform.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive, Avacta, commented:

"Avacta's two divisions are growing strongly. Our two flagship products, Optim and Midas, will be key drivers of our growth in 2010 and beyond, delivering our strategy of commercialising our own innovative technologies and accelerating this growth through further acquisitions.

"Avacta addresses two huge global markets - biopharmaceutical development and veterinary healthcare - in a unique way to create a life science support Group with many high growth opportunities. I am particularly excited by the excellent feedback received from the first Optim installation and by the launch, later this year, of our first veterinary diagnostic product, Midas, which has the potential to create significant recurring revenues through test cartridge sales."

8 March 2010

Enquiries:

Avacta Group plc	Tel:  [phone]
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer	www.avacta.com
Haggie Financial LLP	Tel:  [phone]
Nicholas Nelson	[e-mail]
Nominated Adviser:
Daniel Stewart & Company Plc	Tel:  [phone]
Simon Leathers

Notes to Editors:

About Avacta

Avacta was spun-out from the University of Leeds in 2004 by its current management team as a biophysics company, with the aim of combining the disciplines of physics and biology to develop innovative technologies and expert technical services to address unmet needs in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.

Avacta has a core bio-analytical technology development programme addressing the needs of the biopharmaceutical sector to fully characterise their new products at the earliest stage in their development to reduce the risk of late stage failure.

High end analytical instruments and leading edge contract research services are being provided to the biopharmaceutical and healthcare/personal-care materials sectors through the Group's biotech support division, Avacta Analytical. High value solutions for rapid, point of care diagnostics based on these core bio-analytical technologies, with a near term focus on veterinary diagnostics, are being delivered through Avacta Animal Health. Longer term these technologies will be transferred into the human clinical diagnostics market. Avacta joined AIM in August 2006.

 

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