The information contained within this
announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the UK Market Abuse
Regulation.
13 September
2024
Proteome Sciences plc
("Proteome Sciences" or the
"Company")
Interim results for the six months ended 30 June
2024
and Directorate Change
Proteome
Sciences announces its unaudited interim results for the six months
ended 30 June 2024 ("H1
2024").
Financial
highlights:
· Total revenues
£2.22m (H1 2023: £3.21m)
· TMT®
reagent sales and royalties £1.85m (H1 2023: £2.20m)
· Proteomics
services revenues £0.37m (H1 2023: £1.01m)
· Gross profit
£0.20m (H1 2023: £1.77m)
· Cost of sale and
administrative costs £3.92m (H1 2023: £3.37m)
· Adjusted EBITDA**
(Loss £1.24m) (H1 2023: £0.27m)
Commenting
on these results, Dr. Mariola Soehngen, Chief Executive Officer of
Proteome Sciences, said:
"During H1 2024, the TMT business
was affected by the challenging background to the biotech market
with reduced R&D budgets and postponement of projects which had
continued from 2023. TMT revenues were down 16% compared to the
same period last year. We believe that customers mainly held off
placing orders while waiting for the launch and availability of the
new TMTpro 35plex tags post the ASMS (American Society for Mass
Spectrometry) meeting in June. This has resulted in a significant
increase in orders during Q3 2024 and it is expected to continue
during Q4 2024. The Company expects that the improved orders should
lead to higher sales for the full year results and a return to long
term growth.
Following the recent development and
excellent performance of our innovative plexDIA tags, licensing
discussions have started to select a major distribution partner.
This will generate new sources of revenue for our reagents business
including tag sales, royalties and additional proteomics services.
The Company expects to make further announcements in due
course.
Interest in our proteomic services
is healthy with a good order book but the translation into revenue
was delayed and reduced in the first half of the year. In April
2024, the Company secured a contract with a US biopharmaceutical
company using Proteome Sciences' mass spectrometry services for the
analysis of samples for an on-going clinical trial. This project is
utilising the Good Clinical Laboratory Practice
("GCLP")
accreditation obtained by Proteome Sciences specifically for this
type of project. The contract value is in excess of
£500,000.
In addition, the US lab in San
Diego, has delivered its first projects with good results. It uses
the latest generation Orbitrap Ascend Tribrid mass spectrometry and
automated sample preparation platforms that will extend the range
of services offered to customers. The challenging economic climate
has required that we currently hold back the scale of our US
operation pending receipt of several more significant projects
currently under discussion.
We believe that the biotech downturn
last year bottomed out in the first half of 2024 following
the significant increases in orders that we have received for TMT
and proteomics services in Q2 and Q3 and that the slowdown in
the market is now behind us.
The Company considers that the
commercialisation of the new plexDIA tags, the addition of regular
and multiplexed DIA services together with the return to growth in
TMT and from our traditional service business will underpin the
company's recovery and return the business back to growth across
its proteomics activities."
**Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP
company specific measure which is considered to be a key
performance indicator of the Group's financial
performance).
Directorate Change:
The Company announces that Dr
Mariola Soehngen has notified the Company of her intention to step
down as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and as a director of the Company
after four years of service at the end of January 2025. The process
to appoint a successor has been initiated.
For
further information:
Proteome Sciences plc
|
Dr Mariola Soehngen, Chief Executive
Officer
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 7043 2116
|
Dr Ian Pike, Chief Scientific
Officer
|
|
Richard Dennis, Chief Commercial
Officer
Abdelghani Omari, Chief Financial
Officer
|
|
Allenby Capital Limited (AIM Nominated Adviser &
Broker)
|
John Depasquale / Lauren Wright
(Corporate Finance)
Tony Quirke / Stefano Aquilino
(Equity Sales & Corporate Broking)
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
|
About Proteome Sciences plc. (www.proteomics.com)
Proteome Sciences plc is a
specialist provider of contract proteomics services to enable drug
discovery, development and biomarker identification, and employs
proprietary workflows for the optimum analysis of tissues, cells
and body fluids. SysQuant® and TMT®MS2
are unbiased methods for identifying and contextualising new
targets and defining mechanisms of biological activity, while
analysis using Super-Depletion and TMTcalibrator™ provides access
to over 8,500 circulating plasma proteins for the discovery of
disease-related biomarkers. Targeted assay development using mass
spectrometry delivers high sensitivity, interference-free biomarker
analyses in situations where standard ELISA assays are not
available.
The Company has its headquarters in
Cobham, UK, with laboratory facilities in Frankfurt, Germany and
San Diego, US.
Chief Executive Officer's Report
Services
Revenues from the proteomics
services business decreased 63% in the first half of 2024 to £0.37m
(H1 2023: £1.01m). As reported in our 2023 Annual Report,
this reflects the significant slowdown in orders placed with the
company in H2 2023 which resulted in a smaller order book and
received samples being carried over to the start of
2024.
In April 2024 we announced a
substantial GCLP based contract with a US biopharma company.
We are now regularly receiving clinical samples from their trial
centres with service revenue to be recorded in both 2024 and
2025. This order made a significant impact to the orders
received in H1 2024, overall we received 75% more orders and 2.8x
greater value compared to the same period in 2023. We are
working on several other assay development contracts with the same
biopharma company which are anticipated to lead to further
contracts for GCLP analysis early in 2025.
The substantial increase in both the
number of orders and their overall value gives management
confidence that the slowdown experienced in H2 2023 and H1 2024 has
bottomed out and the business is on track to return to growth.
TMT®
First half-year revenue from the TMT
license with Thermo Scientific declined to £1.85m (2023: £2.20m).
We believe this largely resulted from customers holding off their
orders for TMT tags in anticipation of the release of the new
generation TMT 32plex and TMT pro 35plex tags at the ASMS meeting
in June. After very positive feedback and the tags available
thereafter, there has been a strong resurgence in TMT orders and
revenues in the second half of the year that should result in full
year expectations for revenues to be considerably higher than in
2023. We continuously monitor our stock levels of all
TMT® and TMTpro™ reagents to ensure we can meet forecast
demands for the foreseeable future.
plexDIA
Strong progress has been made with
the development of an innovative range of new tags in multiplexed
DIA analysis (plexDIA). The tags have excellent labelling
efficiency and overall performance importantly matching peptide and
protein identification rates very closely to single DIA and TMTpro™
experiments. We have made an initial 6plex set of tags, doubling
the capacity over other plexDIA tags, and we plan to extend this
with at least 20 variants from the same structure. These will be
commercialised with two different revenue streams, one by
outlicensing the plexDIA tags with a major distribution partner and
the other by way of services revenue from our services business.
This provides a strategic market opportunity and licensing
discussions have been initiated with patents filed
recently.
Outlook
Over the last two years we invested
substantially to expand our business by establishing the facility
in San Diego, developing new ranges of TMT®, plex DIA
tags and Single Cell Proteomics (SCP) to address the future growing
global demand for proteomics applications.
Despite the lower service revenues
in H1 2024, we have experienced increased customer engagement and
orders for proteomics services in Q2 and Q3 2024 and we now believe
that the slowdown in the market is behind us.
For our tag business we expect the
recent introduction of the TMTpro™ 35plex tags to generate strong
revenues in the coming years. Licensing discussions have been
initiated for our plexDIA tags from which new and additional
revenue streams will be generated.
In summary, with improved background
to trading in the second half of the year, we expect the
investments that we have made combined with the new products and
services we have introduced should return the business back to
growth across its proteomics activities.
After 4 years as CEO this September
I wanted to announce that I intend to leave Proteome Sciences at
the end of January 2025 and consequently the process to appoint a
successor has been initiated. I have much enjoyed overseeing the
development of the business over that time and wish it every
success in the future.
Dr.
Mariola Soehngen
Chief Executive Officer
12 September 2024
Chief Financial Officer's Report
Revenues in the first half of 2024
were 31% lower at £2.22m compared to the equivalent period in 2023
(H1 2023: £3.21m), TMT® and TMTpro™ sales were 7% below
prior year and amounted to £1.35m (H1 2023: £1.45m) and
TMT® royalties were
£0.50m in H1 2024 compared to £0.75m in H1 2023.
Proteomics service revenues decreased 63% to £0.37m (H1 2023:
£1.01m).
Cost of sales and administrative
expenses increased by 16% to £3.92m (H1 2023: £3.37m). Major cost
drivers included spend on the laboratory in the U.S.
Financing costs for the first half increased to
£0.44m in comparison with £0.38m in the previous period due to
higher cost of debt.
Adjusted EBITDA** decreased to a
loss of £1.24m (H1 2023: profit of £0.27m), which
is primarily attributable to lower revenues and
higher costs.
The cash flow from operating
activities was (£0.45m) in H1 2024. As at 30 June 2024 the Group
had cash resources of £1.21m (31 December 2023: £2.03m).
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
£'000
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2023
(unaudited)
£'000
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
2,217
|
|
3,210
|
Gross Profit
|
205
|
|
1,767
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Administrative Expenses *
|
(1,911)
|
|
(1,930)
|
Operating loss
|
(1,706)
|
|
(163)
|
Depreciation
|
430
|
|
289
|
EBITDA
|
(1,276)
|
|
126
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-cash item: share based payment
expenses
|
39
|
|
143
|
Adjusted EBITDA **
|
(1,237)
|
|
269
|
* Administrative expenses include
depreciation
**Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP
company specific measure which is considered to be a key
performance indicator of the Group's financial
performance).
Abdelghani Omari
Chief Financial Officer
12 September 2024
Consolidated income
statement
For the six months ended 30 June
2024
|
Note
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
£'000
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2023
(unaudited)
£'000
|
Continuing operations
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
|
|
|
Licences, sales &
services
|
2,217
|
|
3,210
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of sales
|
(2,012)
|
|
(1,443)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross profit
|
205
|
|
1,767
|
|
|
|
|
Administrative expenses
|
(1,911)
|
|
(1,930)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating loss
|
(1,706)
|
|
(163)
|
|
|
|
|
Finance costs
|
(442)
|
|
(384)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss before taxation
|
(2,148)
|
|
(547)
|
Tax
|
(65)
|
|
(31)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss for the period
|
(2,213)
|
|
(578)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss per share
|
2
|
|
|
Basic
|
(0.75p)
|
|
(0.20p)
|
Diluted
|
(0.75p)
|
|
(0.20p)
|
Consolidated statement of
comprehensive income
For the six months ended 30 June
2024
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
£'000
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2023
(unaudited)
£'000
|
|
Loss for the period
|
(2,213)
|
|
(578)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other comprehensive income for the period
Exchange differences on translation
of foreign operations
|
(26)
|
|
(103)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss
and total comprehensive expense for the period
|
(2,239)
|
|
(681)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Consolidated balance sheet
As
at 30 June 2024
|
|
|
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
£'000
|
31 December
2023
(audited)
£'000
|
|
Non-current assets
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goodwill
|
|
|
4,218
|
|
4,218
|
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
|
|
492
|
|
551
|
|
Right-of-use asset
|
|
|
2,137
|
|
2,525
|
|
|
|
|
6,847
|
|
7,294
|
|
Current assets
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inventories
|
|
|
772
|
|
837
|
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
|
|
380
|
|
955
|
|
Contract assets
|
|
|
247
|
|
345
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
|
|
1,208
|
|
2,027
|
|
|
|
|
2,607
|
|
4,164
|
|
Total assets
|
|
|
9,454
|
|
11,458
|
|
Current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trade and other payables
|
|
|
(675)
|
|
(629)
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
|
|
-
|
|
(1)
|
|
Borrowings
|
|
|
(11,678)
|
|
(11,235)
|
|
Lease Liabilities
|
|
|
(870)
|
|
(609)
|
|
|
|
|
(13,223)
|
|
(12,474)
|
|
Net
current liabilities
|
|
|
(10,616)
|
|
(8,310)
|
|
Non-current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lease liabilities
|
|
|
(1,073)
|
|
(1,631)
|
|
Pension Provisions
|
|
|
(424)
|
|
(419)
|
|
Total non-current liabilities
|
|
|
(1,497)
|
|
(2,050)
|
|
Total liabilities
|
|
|
(14,718)
|
|
(14,524)
|
|
Net
liabilities
|
|
|
(5,266)
|
|
(3,066)
|
|
Equity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share capital
|
|
|
2,952
|
|
2,952
|
|
Share premium account
|
|
|
51,466
|
|
51,466
|
|
Share-based payment
reserve
|
|
|
4,753
|
|
4,713
|
|
Merger reserve
|
|
|
10,755
|
|
10,755
|
|
Translation and others
reserve
|
|
|
(37)
|
|
(10)
|
|
Retained loss
|
|
|
(75,155)
|
|
(72,942)
|
|
Total shareholders deficit
|
|
|
(5,266)
|
|
(3,066)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Consolidated cash flow statement
For the six months to 30 June
2024
|
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
£'000
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2023
(unaudited)
£'000
|
Loss
after tax
|
(2,213)
|
|
(578)
|
Adjustments for:
|
|
|
|
Net finance costs
|
442
|
|
384
|
Depreciation of property, plant and
equipment and right of use assets
Tax charge
|
430
65
|
|
288
31
|
Share-based payment
expense
|
39
|
|
143
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating cash flows before movements
in working capital
|
(1,237)
|
|
268
|
Decrease/(Increase) in
inventories
|
64
|
|
(11)
|
Decrease in receivables
|
675
|
|
879
|
Decrease/(increase) in
payables
|
44
|
|
(188)
|
Increase in provisions
|
5
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
(outflow)/inflow from operations
|
(449)
|
|
951
|
|
|
|
|
Tax paid
|
(65)
|
|
(31)
|
Net
cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities
|
(514)
|
|
920
|
Cash
flows from investing activities
|
|
|
|
Purchases of property, plant and
equipment
|
(9)
|
|
(27)
|
|
|
|
|
Net
cash outflow from investing activities
|
(9)
|
|
(27)
|
|
|
|
|
Financing activities
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lease payments
|
(297)
|
|
(173)
|
Loan repayment
|
-
|
|
(824)
|
Net
cash outflow from financing activities
|
(297)
|
|
(997)
|
Net
(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
|
(820)
|
|
(104)
|
Cash and cash equivalents at
beginning of period
|
2,027
|
|
3,994
|
Effect of foreign exchange rate
changes
|
1
|
|
(103)
|
Cash
and cash equivalents at end of period
|
1,208
|
|
3,787
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Notes
For
the six months to 30 June 2024
1 Basis of
preparation and accounting policies
These interim consolidated financial statements
have been prepared using accounting policies based on UK adopted
International Accounting Standards and Interpretations in
conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. They do
not include all disclosures that would otherwise be required in a
complete set of financial statements and should be read in
conjunction with the 31 December 2023 Annual Report. The financial
information for the half years ended 30 June 2023 and 30 June 2024
does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of
Section 434 (3) of the Companies Act 2006 and both periods are
unaudited.
The
annual financial statements of Proteome Sciences plc ('the Group')
are prepared in accordance with UK adopted International Accounting
Standards and Interpretations in conformity with the requirements
of the Companies Act 2006. The comparative financial information
included within this report does not constitute the full statutory
Annual Report for that period. The statutory Annual Report and
Financial Statements for 2023 have been filed with the Registrar of
Companies. The Independent Auditors' Report on the
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31
December 2023 was unqualified.
The directors have concluded that
the Group has adequate resources to
continue operational existence for the foreseeable
future.
Proteome Sciences plc has applied the same accounting policies and
methods of computation in its interim consolidated financial
statements as in its 2023 annual financial statements.
There have been no new standards
adopted since the presentation of the financial statements for
2023.
The Board of Directors approved this
interim report on 12 September 2024.
2. Loss per share from
continuing operations
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2024
(unaudited)
|
|
Six months
ended
30 June
2023
(unaudited)
|
Loss per share
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loss for the
purpose of basic profit/loss per share being net profit/loss
attributable to equity holders of the parent (£'000)
|
(2,213)
|
|
|
|
(578)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of shares
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of ordinary
shares for the purpose of basic loss per share
|
295,182,056
|
|
|
|
295,182,056
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of ordinary
shares for the purpose of diluted loss per share
|
308,629,335
|
|
|
|
309,593,135
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
3.
Cautionary
statement
This document contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to Proteome Sciences plc ('the Group'). The
Group considers any statements that are not historical facts as
"forward-looking statements". They relate to events and trends that
are subject to risk and uncertainty that may cause actual results
and the financial performance of the Group to differ materially
from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These
statements are made by the directors in good faith based on
information available to them and such statements should be treated
with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both
economic and business risk factors, underlying any such
forward-looking information.