City round-up: Assura; Scapa Group; Genedrive

Warrington healthcare property group Assura reported better half year figures today.

Net rental income rose 7.5% to £54.4m in the six months to September 30, and pre-tax profits improved by 20.3% to £43.8m.

The dividend remains at 1.4p per share.

The business provides premises where NHS services can operate and serve their local communities.

Chief executive Jonathan Murphy said: “The first six months of the year was a period of significant activity across the group, reflecting Assura’s ongoing resilience and strong market positioning.

“In April, we raised £185m from our shareholders, and since then we have been deploying that capital on a number of exciting opportunities to strengthen our portfolio.

“In the half year, we have delivered ahead of expectations.

“We made strong progress with developments, completing six schemes with a further 15 on site, and replenishing the pipeline.

“In addition, we closed 20 acquisitions, the pipeline is another £90m and our asset enhancement activities continue to generate value.”

He added: “Assura’s predictable business model was again demonstrated by consistent rent collection, with our portfolio of 576 properties achieving a passing rent roll up four per cent to £113.3m in the first half.

“We made a strong start with our social impact strategy, SixBySix, including the launch with an initial £2.5m contribution to the Assura Community Fund. In September, we also successfully raised £300m through our first social bond.

“Assura’s delivery of ongoing growth during these unprecedented times means we are best-placed to support both the immediate and long-term interests of the NHS, which has been under exceptional pressure over the last six months.

“As we move into the Winter season, we are engaging very closely to ensure we continue to support local NHS systems, the clinicians and patients using our buildings, and the communities which our buildings serve, however we can.”

::

Heejae Chae

Manchester wound care group, Scapa, confirmed revenue declined 24.1% to £122m in the six months to September 30, today, following a trading update last month.

However, it revealed that revenue improved 23% sequentially from the firsgt quarter to the second, as demand begins to return to prior year levels.

The group announced a pre-tax loss for the six month period of £500,000, compared with a pre-tax profit of £1m the previous year.

And it said that, while uncertainty remains, given the recent global resurgence of COVID-19 infections, revenue in both its healthcare and industrial divisions in the second half is expected to exceed the first, with earnings benefiting from additional volumes and cost improvement programmes already implemented.

As a result of this momentum, it continues to track ahead of its COVID plan.

Chief executive Heejae Chae said: “We delivered first half results ahead of our COVID-19 plan and the board’s expectations, demonstrating the herculean effort by everyone in the organisation in response to the pandemic.

“As a designated essential business, we have maintained operations throughout the pandemic and supported our commercial partners thanks to the dedication of our colleagues around the world.

“The swift actions we took at the beginning of the pandemic have helped to mitigate effects on our profitability and cash generation, as well as to continue to service our customers.

“As demand returns to pre-COVID-19 levels, we have the agility to meet this demand, positioning us well to capture additional market share.

“We have taken strategic and operational actions to position us better both in terms of profitability and to further strengthen the balance sheet.

“Whilst mindful of the recent global resurgence of COVID-19 infections, we expect that revenue and profitability will continue to improve during the second half of the financial year.”

::

David Budd

Genedrive, the Manchester molecular testing business, revealed steep losses for the year to June 30, today.

Revenues of £1.059m, in line with expectations, compared with £2.362m the previous year, while a pre-tax loss of £4.5m last year deepened to £20.384m this year.

It said this was due to the impact of the pandemic on its markets.

Chief executive, David Budd, explained: “During the first half of the year we continued to execute on our product and commercial strategy.
“However with the emergence of COVID-19 in the second half of the year we saw revenues on our core assays stall, just as many companies found as global markets went into quarantine.

“Despite the impact on revenues, COVID-19 brought real opportunity to Genedrive as a commercial stage molecular diagnostics company. We were quick to develop solutions and brought a genuinely unique product to market in rapid time.”

The company refocused a significant part of its core resources towards development of two SARS-CoV-2 tests to detect active COVID-19 infections.

The first test is a high throughput laboratory test and the second test, expected to be launched in March 2021, is a point-of-care test that will run on the Genedrive instrument.

He said: “At the end of a challenging year, we are now in a fundamentally stronger position, aided by the £8m fund raise in May 2020 and the conversion of loan notes in June 2020 and post year end in September 2020.

“We were nimble in reacting to COVID-19 and we now have four assays on market: HCV, DoD Biohazard, AIHL, and COVID 96 rapid test, and while there have been delays and there remain some uncertainties around regulatory approvals for the COVID tests, we remain confident in the product’s potential and our pipeline.

“We also have two products in development: mTB and a COVID point-of-care test. These products are expected to produce meaningful revenues in the future.”

He added: “It has been a challenging year, but Genedrive was in the fortunate position to have invested in the capabilities and people needed to exploit its position in PCR, and emerge a better and stronger company.

“Our products and pipeline provide us with confidence that we will deliver strong growth and much increased shareholder value.

“With a growing pipeline and opportunities across a range of healthcare markets I believe Genedrive is very well placed for the future.

“We remain confident in our SAR CoV-2 products and through our network of commercial and other partners we see significant commercial opportunities ahead, although additional regulatory clearances are still awaited in certain key territories.

“We will enter 2021 with a stronger product portfolio and a stronger balance sheet and ready to enter a new growth phase for the company and its assays.”