Member Info for Okehurst1

It’s looking highly likely testing for whatever disease is going around will be the norm, we just need validation of ‘our biotech ‘

https://worldakkam.com/the-first-case-of-fluorona-reported-in-israel-a-combined-infection-of-covid-19-and-influenza/612526/

‘ only ‘ £36M spent on antibody testing in 2020/ 2021

Mass testing £4.2B - didn’t Innova nick £3.3B of this ?

Fair to say the Government thought the vaccine would be the end of Covid 19 and underspent it’s own budget on testing.

With a world wide shortage of LFT’s we may finally see the Government using its kit at Omega

Interesting bit of data

https://twitter.com/laidlaw_stuart/status/1477562706244816902?s=10

It appears The Good law Project have evaluated the situation and took the view the multi £Billions spent on Chinese tests is questionable and chasing down the Government over £7M to Abingdon was a helpful distraction for the Tories - whilst £billions went offshore

https://twitter.com/jolyonmaugham/status/1477203339624464388?s=10

Max

Mologic / Gates focusing on USA market approval
Omega EU/U.K.

‘Omega Diagnostics, whose factory near Stirling was said to be ready to produce two million lateral flow tests a week, signed a contract with the NHS in March that would have been worth £374 million. It is sitting on government machinery worth millions but no order was ever placed’

‘Neale Hanvey, the Alba Party MP for Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, whose constituency is near the Omega factory, is angry that Chinese companies have been relied on while manufacturers such as Omega have not received orders. Hanvey has scheduled an adjournment debate in parliament on Wednesday over the government’s handling of Covid contracts’

Pressure building

Another relevant Tweet off John Redwood today

https://twitter.com/johnredwood/status/1477181474545799170?s=10

Regulator, if you are checking in on the BB, any views on below ?

https://twitter.com/horseinvestor/status/1476335570326630400?s=10

Political momentum building

https://twitter.com/johnredwood/status/1476817812349935641?s=10

Comp, I agree with your comments below

The Government then allow Chinese tests to Tender for contracts and they have a cost advantage over U.K. Diagnostic Companies

Suggest we will see a big tender award in the new year to Chinese suppliers who can under cut, no government minister will sign off a tender in todays climate unless it’s been deemed to be competitively priced.

Omega is best focused on private sales with DAM/ others - once we clear regulatory approval

Possibly Surescreen

Bill Gates/ Mologic have already come out to say their biotech identifies Omicron, you would expect this is an opportunity to push hard for ‘ our ‘ test to be placed on the list asap?

Early data does appear to point to requiring individuals with symptoms - be that a cold / flu like - to keep testing over a number of days and day 2 to 3 after symptoms is when the viral load is at its highest with Omicron

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fda-says-rapid-covid-antigen-tests-may-be-less-sensitive-n1286722

Thanks for sharing Muck, interesting.

Fair comment Bigbangs

Hi Captain - good debate

If we look at the margins from private testing it appears the real money is being made by the distributor not the biotech provider, suggest that’s fair comment.

Let’s assume £17 is near the bottom of the pricing range for a home test LFT , Omega may only be enjoying £3 a test - and that’s only when they clear HUA of course
So the bulk of the margin is being made by the distributor, btw suggest this another of Colin’s commercial mistakes, not setting up a distribution division and including PCR

DAM’s head office is in Merseyside, they are a private concern and it appears they are taking short term leases on the high street.

Assume HUA is secured and m/cap heads back towards £80M which it could do IF they secure volume with DAM & others, a paper / cash placing to fund DAM may not be relativity expensive / prohibitive and would be earning enhancing
I am assuming DAM would secure Board seats as part of the transaction which is normal practise.

Omega can then start offering via DAM , Food Tolerance / allergies , antibody tests … whatever, they become a one stop walk in testing centre, the LFT has now become something the public have come to understand.

Omega then focus on other biotech products / services and offer the owner of the IP a route to market, including engineering / manufacturing / distribution / sales of the LFT.

Appreciate not without risks but has merits

….. we land EU HUA

Purchasing DAM at the right price for both parties could be a smart move via a mixture of paper / cash and an opportunity for institutional investors to come on board.

Apart from potentially earning enhancing then Omega by default have a sales orientated team - which is without doubt what they are lacking.

Helpful with cross selling other self test products as well.

100M p/a LFT capacity / European sales and Distribution operation and become a vertical operation, self test whatever …

Nb - it’s interesting that we are not using the Government kit whilst working on the OG contract - must be cassettes/ packaging ?

Captain, think we all take what we want from this one.

My opinion, they are gamely employed but what is the gross margin ? They mention reduced losses in 2nd half, think we can say the 300no staff are being productive.

This is a surprise … 300 staff

Q150: What is the current head count now?

At 30 November 2021, the Group employed 227 people. In addition, there were 84 agency staff, mostly working on the short term contract for Orient Gene.

Q39: What logical reason can the company have for signing an exclusivity agreement with DAM for the professional use test that has no minimum order quantities, when historical figures for DAM seems to indicate they are in a position to utilise only a very small fraction of the Omega manufacturing capacity

The contract with DAM Health does have a minimum order quantity (which has not been disclosed) and as we stated on 1 November, DAM Health is currently using approximately 200,000 in-clinic COVID tests per month. This exclusive agreement covers the use of and European distribution of the professional use test, but we believe that the self-test / home-use test will create much greater demand. This is not covered by the current DAM agreement.