Gunsynd Regulatory News (GUN)

Evocutis plc

("Evocutis" or "the Company")

Trading Update

Evocutis plc (AIM: EVO), the company focussed on advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, today announces an update on current trading and the outlook for the year ending 31 July 2012, following completion of a review of the business performance to date and expectations for the remainder of the financial year.

Following strong revenue growth of 113% in the first half of the financial year, the Company's revenues are expected to grow at a slower rate in the second half of the year when compared to the second half of FY2011. Total revenues for the current year are expected to be approximately £460,000 (2011: £227,000). The loss before tax is expected to be between £1.0 and £1.2 million. The Company's principal revenue streams are from the provision of microbiology and laboratory services using the Company's proprietary LabSkinTM technology. Projects to deliver these services are generally of a non-recurring nature and the timing and magnitude of projects in each financial period is therefore difficult to predict.

As at 31 May 2012, the Company had cash balances of approximately £1.7 million and remains debt free. The directors are confident that the Company has sufficient cash to fund the Company's activities for at least the next 12 months.

On 4 April 2012, Dr Stephen Jones tendered his resignation as a Director of the Company and the Board accepted his resignation. Dr Jones left the Company on 4 May 2012 and the Company's senior Non-Executive Director, Dr Gwyn Humphreys was appointed as Interim Chief Executive Officer, helping to minimise any disruption to the business.

Since his appointment, Gwyn has led a review of the Company and its product and service offering. This review will help define the key requirements, responsibilities and skill set required in a permanent Chief Executive Officer. Dr Humphreys will remain as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a full time replacement has been appointed.

The Company aims to be the pre-eminent supplier of focussed skin science solutions for functional pharmaceutical, cosmetics and consumer healthcare products. This focus translates into licensable products (such as SYN1113), specialist skin microbiology services including clinical studies of skin products with a microbiological focus, and the development of LabSkin™ its proprietary living skin equivalent. In addition, during the second half of this calendar year, the Company will begin promoting sales of its LabSkin™ units which it believes is a promising opportunity to grow revenues and generate margin.

The LabSkin™ full thickness Skin Equivalent model (which is grown in tissue culture from human fibroblasts and keratinocytes) has close similarities in structure and behaviour to human skin. This makes LabSkin™ attractive as a tool for the detailed molecular and histological study of many aspects of skin products. LabSkin™ can be used in a range of areas, including the development of product preparations for anti-ageing, UV protection, wound healing and the complex interactions of microbes with the skin.

The Company is continuing to progress discussions relating to its SYN1113 technology with a view to concluding a licence deal with a major dermatological partner in 2012-13.

Interim Chief Executive Officer, Dr Gwyn Humphreys commented:

"It is disappointing that sales revenue growth in the second half of the year is not as strong as the growth seen in the first half. However, total revenues for the year are expected to be approximately double those achieved in the prior year and we anticipate that the loss for the year will be lower than that of the prior year. The advancement of our LabSkin technology into a commercially available product for direct sale is an exciting step for the Company and this is backed by our consultancy expertise. The Company expects to report final results in October 2012 and we look forward to providing a further update on strategy and progress at that time."

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About Evocutis plc

With a rich portfolio of new product opportunities, Evocutis offers antimicrobial and dermatological expertise to the cosmetic, consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Being uniquely able to combine research for laboratory testing, advanced skin models and clinical testing, Evocutis offers a complete service for the development of skin care products and ingredients. Through research and testing we enable our clients to advance the discovery of skin care products that actually work.

Offering high quality contract research services, Evocutis specialises in Human Skin Microbiology, tissue culture systems and Human Volunteer and Clinical Dermatology Research. Unique characteristics of its colonised full thickness model of human skin (LabSkin™) allow rapid, cost effective screening of, for example, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial ingredients and products for use on skin. Additionally, the clinical, human volunteer testing facility that is housed on-site provides rapid, bespoke evaluation of dermatological products.

When it comes to advanced laboratory and clinical evaluations of skincare products for the health and cosmetic markets, the Evocutis focus is simple: intelligent and specialised R&D input. 

For further information, please see www.evocutis.com

About LabSkin™

LabSkin™ is an animal-replacement technology, that emulates living skin tissue and is a high value research and product testing tool for the cosmetic and healthcare industries. It is a full thickness human skin model, comprised of both dermal and epidermal layers, and is produced exclusively and reproducibly on site at Evocutis from primary human cells (keratinocytes & fibroblasts). The model exhibits a fully differentiated epidermal layer, which provides a completely dry surface for tailored testing requirements.

LabSkin™ is highly versatile, and alongside its antimicrobial model, Evocutis is developing models to test anti-ageing and moisturising products. The antimicrobial LabSkin™ model allows testing using pathogenic microorganisms which would not be possible in human clinical studies. In addition, methods have been developed to allow LabSkin™ to be inoculated with skin washings taken directly from human skin, thus providing a step-change in the quality of data possible from a laboratory model. By benchmarking activity against best-in-class products, the activity of new ingredients and formulations can be assessed for several antimicrobial endpoints, including immediate kill, rate of kill and residual activity.

Recent research indicates that our natural microflora is an integral part of our skin and makes a significant contribution to skin health. LabSkin™ provides a unique living skin surface which is validated for microbial applications and can simultaneously provide information on irritation, penetration, barrier function and skin structure.