11 Apr 2018 07:00
11 April 2018
Byotrol plc ("Byotrol" or the "Company")
Trading Update
Byotrol is pleased to announce good progress over the last 12 months and provides a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2018. This has been a year of significant investment in both the business and its technologies.
Following a further commercial agreement ("the Agreement") with Solvay, the Company expects EBITDA for the year to 31 March 2018 to be in line with market expectations.
The Agreement relates to the ongoing Actizone surface care project and involves a sale by Byotrol to Solvay of Actizone patents and intellectual property, in return for:
· substantial cash payments in financial years ending March 2018 and March 2019;
· an ongoing royalty on all Solvay Actizone sales thereafter, with minimum guarantees in years ending March 2020 and 2021;
· a further payment in early 2022 should Solvay sales exceed certain sales targets in 2021; and
· Byotrol retains the ongoing rights to sell Actizone technologies in finished product form.
The Agreement significantly increases the total development resources available for Actizone and frees-up Byotrol resources to commercialise its technologies. There remains an ongoing collaboration with Solvay and the two companies continue to work on development projects across a number of long-lasting anti-microbial technologies.
The Company also continues to make good progress in the US:
· 50 of 52 US states have now formally approved Byotrol's EPA-registered, long-lasting anti-microbial surface sprays. The remaining two (Georgia and Maryland) are expected imminently.
· Byotrol remains on target for a US retail trial in the summer.
In the last financial year we have added several high-quality professionals, including in the last month a new Head of Sales who was previously National Sales Manager of 365Healthcare, a £50m turnover subsidiary of Bunzl Healthcare (and one of a small team that built the business from its start in 2006 to its ultimate sale to Bunzl Healthcare in 2015).
The Company remains well-financed and is starting the new financial year with cash resources of £4.7m.
We will provide further detail on continuing progress with the preliminary results, which we expect to announce in July 2018.
David Traynor, Chief Executive of Byotrol, said:
"We are very pleased with our progress over the last financial year and are excited about the emerging opportunities for our technologies, supported by continuing strong commercial relationships and a very healthy balance sheet."
Enquiries:
Byotrol plc
David Traynor - Chief Executive 01925 742 000
finnCap
Geoff Nash/Kate Bannatyne - Corporate Finance 020 7220 0500
Stephen Norcross/Richard Chambers - Corporate Broking
The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
Notes to Editors:
Byotrol plc (BYOT.L), quoted on AIM, is a leading anti-microbial technology company, operating globally in the Food, Industrial, Healthcare and Consumer sectors, providing low toxicity products with a broad-based and long-lasting efficacy across all microbial classes; bacteria, viruses, fungi, moulds, mycobacteria and algae.
Powerful, long-lasting and gentle, Byotrol's products can be used stand-alone or as ingredients within existing products, where Byotrol can significantly improve their performance, especially in personal hygiene, domestic and industrial disinfection, odour control, food production and food management.
Founded in 2005, the Company develops technologies that create easier, safer and cleaner lives for everyone.
For more information, please go to www.byotrol.co.uk