Investec invests in Epistem

Investec Asset Management has taken a 7.05 per cent stake in Epistem, a biotech firm working in the area of personalised medicine.

Over the past three months the loss-making AIM-listed company, Epistem, has shot up approximately 50%.

Earlier this month it reported steady full-year results, while detailing accelerating investment in a number of its core development programmes.

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Total sales of £5.6m (2011: £5.8m) were driven by a solid performance by Contract Research Services and strong growth in its Personalised Medicine division. The latter delivered more than 100% year-on-year growth, following collaborations with GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and emerging sales of its Genedrive diagnosis machine.

There has been ongoing investment in its Novel Therapies lead programme and its Diagnostics (Genedrive) programmes. This was the reason it gives for moving into a pre-tax loss of £720,000 from a profit of £357,000.

A successful £2.7m cash placing, led to a strengthened cash balance of £4.7m at June 30th.

Consensus forecasts for the year ending June 30th 2013 are for a pre-tax loss of £270,000 on turnover of £6.98m.

CM