Creo Medical Share News (CREO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Medical device firm Creo Medical Group PLC said Tuesday its half-year loss widened amid higher administrative costs as it expects full commercial launch of its products to occur in 2019.

For the six months ended December 31, pretax loss widened to GBP5.1 million from GBP4.7 million the year prior after administrative expenses grew. Administrative costs rose to GBP5.2 million from GBP4.8 million the year before.

Creo did not generate any revenue in either year. Other income, however, shrank to GBP105,000 from GBP127,861 the year prior.

"I am pleased with the progress we have made against all our strategic objectives, not only in the first half of FY 2018, but over the last twelve months," Creo Chief Executive Officer Craig Gulliford said. "Since we listed in December 2016, we have achieved CE marking and FDA clearance ahead of schedule for our first product, Speedboat RS2, in Europe and the US."

"We are executing against our training led commercialisation plan, targeting selected clinicians and key opinion leaders to drive clinical adoption," Gulliford added. "Significantly, the first patients in the UK have been treated using our Speedboat RS2 device powered by our CROMA platform. Furthermore, our technology has been deployed and utilised at a second NHS site.

"The advances that we have made in our pipeline positions us well to become a leading advanced energy, minimally invasive, medical device company," Gulliford continued. "We remain on track for full commercial launch in 2019."

Shares in Creo were 5.4% lower at 107.85 pence on Tuesday.