‘Pivotal year’ sees obesity business address its losses
A life sciences business specialising in weight loss has added significant bulk in what its chief executive has described as “a pivotal year”.
Optibiotix focuses on fighting obesity, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes by developing microbial strains and compounds for use in ingredients and supplements.
Sales have more than doubled to £1.5m, compared against a 13-month financial year, with improvements in operating profitability in key divisions at the York-based business.
A large reduction in costs in its Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions turned around divisional losses of £467,704 and £451,572 respectively.
An accounting change to its stake in SkinBioTherapeutics – caused by a £750,000 partial disposal which changed its treatment from being an associate to now classed as an investment – created a £7.1m uplift in its accounts resulting in a £5.8m profit.
OptiBiotix chief executive Stephen O’Hara said: “We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.
“Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.”
The AIM-listed business has seen its share price struggle in recent months, and is down 30% since January. Last night’s close of 47p valued the business at £40m.
