OptiBiotix revenue improves fivefold in first half
By Josh White
Date: Thursday 24 Sep 2020
(Sharecast News) - Life sciences company OptiBiotix Health reported first-half revenue growth to £0.74m in its first half on Thursday, which was a five times increase in revenues from the first half of 2019.
The AIM-traded firm said its other administration costs reduced by 15.5%, with its loss narrowing by 50% year-on-year to £0.6m.
During the six month period ended 30 June, the company launched a branded 'SlimBiome' range with Holland & Barrett, marking the first agreement with a major retailer to market its proprietary weight management technology.
It also completed a successful human study in partnership with Nutrilinea, which demonstrated that a new food supplement formulation containing 'LPLDL' could reduce high blood pressure.
The company launched a food supplement containing the cholesterol-reducing LPLDL probiotic strain with Alfasigma in Italy, which is the "largest and fastest growing" probiotic market in Europe, and extended the existing terms and territories for its partners CTC Group and Cambridge Commodities for the distribution of 'SlimBiome', 'SlimBiome Medical' and 'GoFigure'.
It also launched SlimBiome in the North American market with Agropur, and struck an agreement with Optipharm for the exclusive use of its 'OptiBiome' weight management ingredient in more than 20 countries, including Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, the Middle East, the Gulf States and North America.
The launch of SlimBiome-containing products in Walmart and Costco in the US and Canada also took place during the period, with the company also signing a three-year distribution agreement with a subsidiary of Pierce Group Asia, granting it exclusive rights to import and commercialise 'SlimBiome' and 'LPLDL' in China and Hong Kong.
OptiBiotix granted Maxcare exclusive rights to commercialise its SlimBiome proprietary weight management technology in Taiwan, and gave UK speciality ingredient supplier Cambridge Commodities a non-exclusive licence to distribute LPLDL, as well as the finished dietary supplement 'CholBiome x3', for cholesterol and blood pressure reduction in the UK.
Finally, the company launched 'WellBiome', a patented supplement to improve gut health, in response to partner interest arising from increased consumer awareness of the human microbiome and the growing trend in health and wellbeing.
"This has been another period of exciting progress for OptiBiotix with a 400% increase in sales and a large reduction in costs compared to the same period last year," said chief executive officer Stephen O'Hara.
"Our divisions are now making strong progress towards profitability with more agreements generating revenues, existing partners increasing sales, and more retail partners launching successful new products.
"Our products are now being commercialised with large retail and pharmaceutical partners boosting consumer awareness and confidence in our brands with OptiBiotix now being identified as a key player in the microbiome space within industry."
O'Hara said the company was now in a "pivotal position" of having a scalable business model growing sales from proven products with partners in multiple international territories in the human microbiome market, which was expected to grow at a combined annual growth rate of 22.6% between 2020 and 2025.
"This presents us with a large and expanding market opportunity on which we are well placed to capitalise by increasing our range of applications, products and territories.
"Whilst uncertainty within the global economic environment will create challenges, we believe that our proven strategy of working with multiple partners, across different application areas and geographies within the healthcare sector, will limit the risk related to any individual deal, product, or geography, and we look forward to continued further progress over the year as a whole."
At 1217 BST, shares in OptiBiotix Health were up 0.16% at 51.58p.
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