(Alliance News) - Instem PLC on Monday reported growth in profit and revenue last year, and said its in silico portfolio will be a significant area of planned investment as it seeks to take advantage of industry consolidation in 2023.
Instem is a Staffordshire, England-based life science software company.
Pretax profit was GBP5.5 million in 2022, nearly doubled from GBP3.0 million in 2021, as revenue increased by 28% GBP58.9 million from GBP46.0 million.
Employee benefits expenses increased 28% as well, to GBP34.4 million from GBP26.9 million, while other expenses increased 31% to GBP13.8 million from GBP10.5 million.
Despite the positive results, Instem declared no dividend for 2022, unchanged from 2021. It reaffirmed its policy of retaining cash within the business to capitalise on opportunities for growth.
Instem said its cash and cash equivalents balance was GBP14.0 million as at December 31, down slightly from GBP15.0 million a year before.
Instem said it was optimistic for the year ahead due to its "strong" order book, loyal existing customers, and being "well placed" to benefit from industry consolidation. It intends to continue focusing on organic growth opportunities, including through acquisitions where appropriate.
"This was another strong period for the company with continued growth in routes to market and higher future visibility [software as a service] revenues. The enlarged group added a number of contracts from existing and new clients, benefiting from the acquisitions made during 2021, while the core product suite and strong market backdrop continued to underpin organic growth," commented Chief Executive Officer Phil Reason.
Instem also said it now has exclusive rights to transition the ToxHub platform from the eTransafe project. It has acquired and licensed ToxHub's assets and launched the platform as part of Centrus, Instem's new in silico suite. The company has received its first SaaS subscription order for ToxHub from German chemical and life science company Bayer AG.
Instem said the Centrus suite was integral to its long-term growth strategy and would be a significant area of planned investment over approximately the next 12 months.
Reason said: "We are delighted that our long-standing history as a market leading technology provider and trusted partner to most of the world's leading life sciences [research and development] organizations has enabled us to take ownership of ToxHub. We will benefit from over USD40 million spent on the platform by eTransafe since 2017 and their substantial data contributions."
Shares in Instem were down 5.8% at 622.00 pence in London on Monday.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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