Bullish interview with CEO28 Jun 2016 10:05
Bullish interview with the CEO in the Scottish Herald - note that Finncap have increased their forecasts, and that ODX are protected from Brexit due to their diverse overseas exports and beneficial impact from a weaker sterling:
Http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/14583254.Omega_Diagnostics_profits_narrow__but_HIV_test_kit_back_on_track/?ref=rss
Extracts:
"Chief executive Andrew Shepherd said its portable white-blood-cell counting kit, Visitect CD4, had overcome the latest in a lengthy catalogue of setbacks, after it resolved an issue relating to the product’s functionality at ambient temperatures.
“The new design is giving very encouraging results and all is going in the right direction,” Mr Shepherd said."
"Analysts FinnCap said the move past the so-called ambient temperature effect was the “light at the end of the tunnel” for Visitect, and increased forecasts for FY 2017 to £13.8 million revenue, with pre-tax profit of £800,000 as the company invests in further growth."
"Visitect is an instrument-free device that uses a simple pin-prick blood test to calculate an HIV patient’s white blood cell levels. The kit – which has similarities with home pregnancy kits – can tell healthcare workers within 40 minutes if a patient requires retroviral drug treatment. Omega believes it can revolutionise the treatment of HIV in developing countries.
Mr Shepherd revealed that a price of $5 per test has already been established, with unit sales expected to be in the millions. It has been established that around 200 million of the tests would be required annually.
Highlighting that two competitors recently dropped out of the market, he said: “Currently, machines that run CD4 tests require electricity, training and placement in hospitals. We’ll be the only point of care test that’s instrument free that can be used in a resource-poor setting.”
"In addition to its facility in Alva, Fife, the company last year opened a manufacturing facility in Pune, India, which is currently making devices for rapid malaria testing.
In its food intolerance business, its flagship products Genarrayt /Foodprint, for laboratory use, and its Food Detective, for use by nutritionists, have continued to grow in export markets, with the latter available in 75 countries.
Mr Shepherd said this largely protected the company from Brexit – which he added would not impact on the development of Visitect CD4.
“Brexit won’t impact CD4 reaching where it needs to go if we successfully complete the technical challenge,” he said. “We’re an export business, so when there’s a weaker sterling, that helps us. We also have risk mitigation in that three-quarters of our turnover is to countries outside the EU with growth opportunities in particularly in North America and China.
"We’re in reasonably goo
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