Last checked at 16 Feb 2015 07:00
For immediate release 07:00: 16 February 2015
RETROSCREEN VIROLOGY GROUP PLC
("Retroscreen" or the "Company")
TRADING UPDATE
Retroscreen Virology Group plc (AIM: RVG), the pioneer of hVIVO human models of disease, announces a trading update today in regards to current market conditions.
In November 2014 the Company announced that revenue for the year ending 31 December 2014 was expected to be not less than £18.0 million, reflecting the impact of the outbreak of Ebola which had caused a number of pharmaceutical customers to divert their influenza and antiviral teams to work on Ebola vaccines and treatments, with a consequential impact on the Company's revenue pipeline.
The effects of Ebola have continued into the first half of 2015 and whilst there have been indications that these delays are abating, the Company anticipates seeing lower than expected demand in 2015 for early phase human challenge clinical trials in influenza and now expects client engagements to run at a similar level to 2014 with a weighting to the second half.
The Company intends to manage its resources to accommodate such levels of activity and does not expect any negative impact on its 2015 cash projections. As forecasted in the Company's announcement on 25 November 2014, the Company will report a cash balance of more than £50.0 million as at 31 December 2014.
In line with the Company's strategic ambitions, the Company has taken advantage of the resultant available capacity in H2'14 and H1'15 to accelerate its hVIVO discovery programme sample studies and looks forward to updating the market on this in due course.
For further information please contact:
Retroscreen Virology Group plc +44 207 756 1300
Kym Denny (CEO)
Graham Yeatman (FD)
Media Enquiries +44 203 021 3933 / +44 7854 979 420
Colin Paterson (Director of Marketing, Communication and Public Relations)
Numis Securities Limited +44 207 260 1000
Michael Meade / Freddie Barnfield (Nominated Adviser)
James Black / Michael Burke (Corporate Broking)
Notes to Editors:
Retroscreen Virology Group plc ("Retroscreen") is a rapidly growing life sciences company based in the UK pioneering a technology platform called hVIVO which uses human models of disease involving healthy volunteers to discover and study new drugs and diagnostics. To date, Retroscreen has conducted over 35 clinical studies, involving more than 1800 volunteers for a range of leading industry, governmental and academic clients.