Trading Update

RNS Number : 5371X

Fusion Antibodies PLC

13 August 2018

 

Prior to publication, the information contained within this announcement was deemed by the Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of Article 7 under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Fusion Antibodies plc 

("Fusion" or the "Company")

Notice of results and trading statement

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), a contract research organisation providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces that the Company's results for the year ended 31 March 2018 ("FY18") will be announced on 16 August 2018. The results for FY18 are in line with current market expectations.

Current trading and prospects

Trading to date for the current financial period ending 31 March 2019 ("FY19") has been slower than anticipated due to increasing competition and consequential pricing pressures, as well as a delay in securing some large contracts. Therefore, the Directors anticipate that the results for FY19 will be significantly behind current market expectations. However, the Directors believe that, based on the current pipeline, the Company will still achieve a modest year on year revenue growth.

We are pleased to confirm the laboratory capacity expansion has been completed, delivered on time and within budget, and the affinity maturation project is on schedule for completion in December 2018. The Company is continuing to build its sales and marketing capability internationally.

The Directors believe that these investments will enable the Company to continue to differentiate itself from its competitors and to win sophisticated, high value customer projects.

  Enquiries:

Fusion Antibodies plc		www.fusionantibodies.com
Dr Paul Kerr, Chief Executive Officer		Via Walbrook PR
James Fair, Chief Financial Officer
Allenby Capital Limited		Tel: [phone]
Virginia Bull / James Reeve / Asha Chotai
Walbrook PR	Tel: [phone] or [e-mail]
Paul McManus	Mob: [phone]
Anna Dunphy	Mob: [phone]

About Fusion Antibodies plc

Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx^TM platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 100 humanisation projects for its international, blue-chip client base, which includes eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. It was initially a drug development business but revised its operations to focus on CRO work in 2011. The Company has a highly experienced management team with a combined 47 years' experience in the biopharma industry.

The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market, which accounted for 43 per cent. of the global biologics market in 2016, was valued at between $85.4 billion and $86.7 billion in 2015 and is forecast to increase at a CAGR of between 8.2 per cent. and 12.2 per cent. for the period 2016 to 2024.

 

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