Avacta Group widens half-year losses as sales slow

Animal and human healthcare company Avacta Group widened its half-year losses as revenues slowed during the introduction of new Optim analytical devices.

The provider of analytical and diagnostic technologies to the pharmaceutical and animal healthcare sectors, posted an operating loss of £0.97m in the six months to the end of January, up from £0.52m the previous year.

Revenues dropped to £1.15m from £1.72m during the transition from Optim1 to Optim2, an analytical instrument designed to probe multiple protein stability-indicating parameters.

The company has received orders for 10 units since launching the product on February 1st.

During the period, the company invested in training its sales team at ForteBio, the the newly acquired subsidiary of partner Pall Corporation. ForteBio is the key distributor for the US market of the Optim product.

"Revenues fell because Optim sales slowed as we introduced Optim2 and trained up the sales team at ForteBiom," Chief Executive Officer Alastair Smith told Digital Look and Sharecast.

He said it was a transformational period for the company which resulted in a short-term slowdown that will drive performance in the long run.

The company expects to launch its new Affimer reagents next year as development remains in line with management's expectations.

"The antibody replacement technology presents a lot of growth opportunities," he said.

"Over the next half we anticipate further progress across all divisions."

RD