SourceBio International bosses reveal plans to take company private

SourceBio International, the Nottingham-based provider of laboratory services, is planning to de-list from the AIM platform of the London Stock Exchange, it has revealed this morning (November 9).

The firm says the move will save it around £600,000 a year and comes amid claims by the company’s board that it is unable to raise funds at what it believes to be a “fair valuation”. The directors also said, as a private company, the would be able to command a much higher valuation for the business on eventual exit, which would serve “in the best interest” of shareholders.

SourceBio is planning to offer shareholders 115p per share, which would be open to “certain shareholders”. The board says it will be able to buy back over half of the issued shares and is in “advanced discussions” to secure financing for the tender offer.

Meanwhile, the company is reporting that revenues from its three core business units of Healthcare Diagnostics, Genomics and Stability Storage continue to perform well, as they did in the first half of the year, with all business units showing growth on prior year.

Jay LeCoque, executive chairman, said: “We continue to be encouraged with progress and growth delivered across our three core business units. Our operational focus remains the continued expansion and scale-up of Cellular Pathology and Digital Pathology volumes through the rest of the year and beyond. The PCR-related deferred revenue situation is highly disappointing nonetheless immaterial to the success and accelerating growth of our core business units.

“Ultimately, we expect to secure a satisfactory resolution to the issue raised by the COVID-19 PCR customer and will update further as the situation develops.

“We are confident that we can potentially grow the business faster as a private company and look forward to providing fuller details in due course.”