Trading update

RNS Number : 1428V

Venture Life Group PLC

26 January 2017

 

Venture Life Group plc

("Venture Life" or the "Group")

Pre-Close Trading Update

Revenues up 57% year-on-year and maiden full year EBITDA profits

Venture Life (AIM: VLG), the international consumer self-care group focused on developing, manufacturing and commercialising products for the ageing population, provides the following trading update for the year ended 31 December 2016.

We are pleased to report that the acceleration in revenue growth exhibited in the first half has continued into the second half of the year, with our expanding order book and the strengthening Euro converting into greater revenue and profitability.  As a result of this momentum, the Group has achieved record revenue for the year ended 31 December 2016 of £14.3 million, an increase of 57% on reported Group revenue for the prior year. Furthermore, the Group's strong performance will see Venture Life record its first full year of EBITDA profitability, with revenue growth delivering a consequent positive drop through consistent with its expectations, on which will be reported on further at the preliminary results.  Associated cash conversion has also improved and as at 31 December 2016, the Group had cash of approximately £2.0 million.

Venture Life will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016 on Thursday 23 March 2017.

Commercial activities

Our focused growth strategy is to partner our products globally with reputable pharmaceutical and/or healthcare companies through long term distribution agreements; to date, we have 33 partners globally in more than 40 countries on the brands business side.  We also continue to see good and growing interest in our portfolio of products, including the recently acquired UltraDEX brand, which sells direct to the grocery and pharmacy channel in the UK. During 2016, we progressed our international partnering business as follows:

-      Signing 13 new long term partnering agreements

-      Undertaking 10 new product launches in partner territories

-      Achieving 6 new product registrations outside of the EU

Our development & manufacturing business continues to grow and 2016 yielded another record year of revenue for this business. We continue to invest in this division to accommodate our ambitious growth plans and ensure that we remain competitive in our product quality, service levels and price, in addition to offering sufficient capacity for our growth plans. The targeted expansion of our own brands and has seen us enter more international markets, and as a result we have recently received approvals to manufacture from both the Brazilian and Korean regulatory authorities. These will provide a solid platform to open up new territories for own-brand sales and add to the already extensive approvals that our development & manufacturing division has received.

2016 has seen the development of three exciting new products within the Group, each of which will be marketed in 2017 to international partners. The three products have all been developed as medical devices, and have been selected for development to meet exciting commercial market opportunities. The three products comprise (of which two will be outlined in further detail this afternoon at our investor presentations):

·     Photo All™ for the treatment of drug related photo-sensitivity

·     MycoClear™ for the treatment of fungal nail infections, and

·     Lissio Rosa™ for the treatment Rosacea.

Our order book for 2017 is building well and January 2017 was 45% higher when compared to actual revenue recognised in January 2016, excluding intercompany sales. We continue to look to the future with confidence.

New Business Development and Alliance Manager appointments

Since our last update in the autumn, two new important appointments have been made:

·     Mr Federico Bianchi, Business Development Director. Federico has a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and is an experienced business development director, who has worked in the industry for over 15 years. Previously Federico was with Polichem SA (which was recently acquired by Almiral) for 7 years, where he was responsible for all out-licensing activities.

·     Ms Catherine Mason, Head of Alliance Management. Catherine is an experienced international partner manager, who has worked in the industry for 30 years.  Catherine has previously worked for Abbott Labs and EKF Diagnostics, and both roles were within international partner management; she thus brings a wealth of experience to Venture Life.

Investor Day

Venture Life is hosting a presentation for investors today, Thursday 26 January 2017, starting at 3pm. The presentation will be held at the offices of Panmure Gordon, One New Change, London EC4M 9AF. To register your place, please contact [e-mail] or call 020 7933 8780. No new material or trading information will be provided. A copy of the presentations will be made available on the Group's website at www.venture-life.com shortly after the event.

Jerry Randall, CEO of Venture Life, commented: "2016 was a significant year for Venture Life, with the Group achieving record revenues of £14.3m and its maiden full year EBITDA profit. The acquired revenues of UltraDEX have added to the good organic growth of the core business, as we continue to develop our brands business across international markets. Our active development pipeline continues to produce innovative products to enter interesting and fast growing market segments, and demonstrates the Group's continued ability to generate value from within, while we continue to negotiate and develop new partnerships. I am delighted with the 2016 results, which demonstrate we are on track to become sustainably profitable'.

For further information please contact:

Venture Life Group PLC		[phone]
Jerry Randall, Chief Executive Officer
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)		[phone]
Freddy Crossley/Peter Steel/Duncan Monteith (Corporate Finance)
Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd (Joint Broker)		[phone]
James Pope/Ben Turner
Walbrook PR	[e-mail] or [phone]
Paul McManus/Anna Dunphy	[phone] / [phone]

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

About Venture Life (www.venture-life.com)

Venture Life is an international consumer self-care company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercialising products for the ageing population. The Group's product range and pipeline currently includes the UltraDEX oral care products range, food supplements for lowering cholesterol and maintaining brain function, dermo-cosmetics for addressing the signs of ageing, and medical devices for improving minor aches and pains, dry eyes and itchy skin. 

The products, which typically are recommended by pharmacists or healthcare practitioners, are available primarily through pharmacies supplied by the Group's international distribution partners.

Through its Development & Manufacturing business, Biokosmes, the Group also provides development and manufacturing services to companies in the medical devices and cosmetic sectors.

 

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