23 Mar 2020 07:01
Byotrol plc ("Byotrol" or the "Company")
Trading Update
We have seen a very substantial increase in demand for the full range of our infection prevention and control technologies over the last seven weeks, following broad recognition of the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe. Firm orders currently sit at £1.7m for deliveries to end of June, with many more orders still being processed. Historically our order book at this time of year has been around £0.35m
We have been working very hard with our contract manufacturers to increase availability of our products and satisfy the exceptional demand. These manufacturers have themselves all been dealing with supply chain constraints, initially and especially in packaging materials (most of which originate in China), and increasingly now in commodity chemicals as the crisis accelerates.
Byotrol's results to 31 March 2020 are now expected to exceed the guidance given at the time of our interim results, where we confirmed our expectations of positive EBITDA for the full year. The exact outturn will depend on the extent to which we can complete orders before the cut-off on 31 March.
We will update the market in more detail after year end, together with further commentary on the order book for the first quarter in the new financial year, which at present is looking substantial and continues to grow.
We are also focussing on delivering longer-term supply contracts and licenses, such as the deal announced with Tristel plc this morning, which is an excellent opportunity for the Company. The outlook for financial year 31 March 2021 is already looking encouraging.
Change of auditors
We are pleased to announce that we have appointed Crowe LLP ("Crowe") as our new auditor with immediate effect. Crowe will audit the Company's full year results for the year ending 31 March 2020.
Crowe replaces Mazars LLP.
David Traynor, Chief Executive of Byotrol, said:
"The Byotrol team is working very hard with customers and suppliers to meet the huge demand for our excellent infection control products. We are currently selling everything we can make, and are investigating every opportunity to increase capacity further.
We believe that infection prevention and control technologies are set to become ever more important in today's world, even after COVID-19 is brought under control."
Enquiries:
Byotrol plc
David Traynor - Chief Executive Officer
Nic Hellyer - Chief Financial Officer 01925 742 000
finnCap
Geoff Nash/ Richard Chambers - Corporate Finance 020 7220 0500
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 infection prevention and control 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