Fusion says results show potential

Fusion IP, which commercialises university-generated intellectual property, hailed an 'excellent year' despite seeing revenues and profits fall heavily.

The company saw revenue cut from £975,000 to £705, 000 in the year to the end of July.

Pre-tax profits almost halved to £505,000, from £1.05bn the previous year, while earnings per share came in at 1p, down from 2.53p.

However, the company trumpeted its 'first material exit event', having sold Simcyp to Certara for $32m.

The deal generated around $6.4m for Fusion, a 200-fold return on its original investment.

Chief Executive David Baynes said the exit from Simcyp validates the firm's commercialisation model and demonstrated "the tremendous potential of our university pipeline agreements".

"Our priority in the year ahead is to continue to focus on the development of the portfolio companies, whilst creating a number of new spinouts to add to our portfolio," he said.

Fusion also reported the value of its portfolio had increased to £19.8m from £16.8m the year before, and it was sitting on cash and deposit balances totalling £5.9m, almost triple that of 2011.