DeepMatter Group climbs after 'key' InfoChem acquisition

(Sharecast News) - DeepMatter Group on Friday reported a wider annual loss on the back of higher costs, although the company's shares rose on the news of a new acquisition.The digital cloud-based chemistry platform developer recorded a loss before tax of £2.0m for 2018, for an increase of 28% on the previous year, as administrative costs climbed 69% to £0.6m and research and development costs rose 15% to £1.4m.The AIM traded company has not yet generated revenue and had cash and cash equivalents of £1.1m at the end of the year, down from £3.3m at the same point the year before.DeepMatter's DigitalGlassware platform, which collects data from chemistry research, is now deployed in a total of seven organisations across three continents after the company launched its Pioneer Programme to trial the platform with potential customers.Mark Warne, chief executive of DeepMatter, said: "It has been a transformational year for the company, having successfully delivered on what we set out to do with our pioneer programme. I'm pleased to say our technology is now deployed on a trial basis with several of the world's premier scientific organisations, with good engagement. Post-period end, the company has gone on to complete the key strategic acquisition of InfoChem and completed an oversubscribed fundraising."InfoChem GmbH, a specialist in cheminformatics, was acquired from global publisher Springer Nature for a total consideration of £2.03m, while DeepMatter raised gross cash proceeds of £4.0m through its fundraising.InfoChem has an established base of users in the same industries as those being targeted by DeepMatter, with the company optimistic that the acquisition will provide cost effective access to established data sources and chemical information software tools, assisting in the accelerated development of the DigitalGlassware platform, as well as providing specialist staff, recurring revenues and an additional sales channel."The company is now focused on deploying its technology to an increasingly larger user base; incorporating robust cheminformatic capabilities enabled by the recent InfoChem acquisition; and progressing to the direct monetisation of the platform. Alongside this the company has begun to identify unique chemistry insights, which we will use to create intellectual property and share with the wider scientific community in due course, as further proof of the validity of the platform," said Warne.DeepMatter Group's shares were up 3.10% at 2.99p at 0943 BST.