US success spurs Byotrol on to £5.1m fundraise
Chester-based anti-microbial technology firm Byotrol has launched a bid to raise up to £5.1m in a share placing as it bids to capitalise on US approval of its newly-launched 24-hour germ-kill surface sanitiser product.
This coincides with the company’s first EBITDA positive year-end results, achieved through rationalising product lines, focused development spend to advance the Company’s technologies, efficiencies in the supply chain and increased sales, particularly via development contracts.
Revenue for the year ended March 31 has topped £3.1m, up 18% while gross profit is up 51% at £1.75m.
In June, Byotrol received US EPA registration for its proprietary germ-kill surface sanitiser which allows the Company to claim high performance cleaning and viricidal action along with such claims as “Anti-bacterial for 24 hours” and “Eliminates >99.9% of viruses”.
A statement said: “The directors are not aware of any other cleaning or sanitising products that can make 24 hour germ kill claims to US consumer markets and as such believe that Byotrol has a unique opportunity in the US, which the we estimate as a $1bn addressable market.
“Depending on the structure of any commercial deal that is agreed, the directors believe that the products could have on shelf presence in the US in H1 2018.”
Outside of the US, Byotrol continues work alongside Solvay SA (“Solvay”) to develop and commercialise long-lasting biocidal products to market in Europe and the rest of the world in the consumer, human and animal health and industrial markets.
The company has patented one such formulation for the EU consumer market and has launched it under the Actizone trading name that it intends will be included in third-party branded surface care products targeted at EU consumers.
“The directors estimate this market to be worth in the hundreds of EU millions,” Byotrol said.
Byotrol has also recently patented a new formulation of alcohol-free hand sanitisers which the Directors expect to be approved by EU regulators as the EU Biocidal Regulations come into force over the next few years. The new product is targeted at alcohol-intolerant or alcohol-sceptical users in the healthcare, business workplace and consumer sectors.
The company has already signed deals with blue-chip customers in the UK, including now supplying directly into the UK NHS, in Japan and Malaysia and is also now marketing its product (via an agent) under the American Red Cross brand in the US.
