INS.L Regulatory News (INS)

Instem plc

("Instem" or the "Company")

Trading Update

Instem (AIM: INS.L), a leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, is pleased to announce a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2019 (the "Period").

Financial Highlights

Organic growth was strong, with revenues c.12% higher than 2018 and EBITDA during the Period in line with management's expectations. Recurring revenue increased as the transition towards Software as a Service (SaaS) continued, resulting in further improved earnings visibility. Technology-enabled outsourced services grew strongly during the Period.

Net cash at 31 December 2019 was £5.9m.

Operational Highlights

Data Collection, Regulatory Solutions and Informatics all performed well with the positive market backdrop and strong positioning underpinning momentum.

As expected, the combination of regulation and repeat orders accounted for continued strong growth within our SEND (Standard for the Exchange of Nonclinical Data) technology-enabled outsourced services. In addition, our Study Management business benefited from further increases in order volume with recurring revenue and renewal rates remaining high.

Our AI powered Informatics service demonstrated continued progress, principally driven by the increasing application of artificial intelligence across the Pharmaceutical industry. Growing demand for Target Safety Assessments ("TSA") has been core to this business and is now complemented by November's earnings enhancing acquisition of Leadscope Inc., which extends the Company's reach, provides strong cross selling opportunities and improves our visibility of earnings. The Leadscope integration plan is progressing well.

Outlook

The Company has established a highly scalable platform with improved operational gearing as growth is delivered. Key opportunities moving forward are centred on continued organic revenue growth, further margin improvement and accretive M&A. Strong performance across our operations, combined with healthy new business pipelines, underpin management's confidence that the momentum achieved during 2019 will continue into the current year.

Phil Reason, CEO of Instem plc, commented: "The Company continues to benefit from a buoyant market and remains well placed across all parts of the life sciences industry, from discovery to post marketing. We have developed a strategy that sees the business benefiting from increasing levels of recurring revenues and a broad portfolio of products, enabling increased cross-selling opportunities. Added to this, the move to SaaS provides for improved margins and quality of earnings. As such, we look forward to updating the market with further developments in the current year."

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About Instem

Instem is a leading provider of IT solutions & services to the life sciences market delivering compelling solutions for Study Management and Data Collection; Regulatory Solutions for Submissions and Compliance; and Informatics-based Insight Generation.

Instem solutions are in use by over 500 customers worldwide, including all the largest 25 pharmaceutical companies, enabling clients to bring life enhancing products to market faster. Instem's portfolio of software solutions increases client productivity by automating study-related processes while offering the unique ability to generate new knowledge through the extraction and harmonisation of actionable scientific information.

Instem products and services now address aspects of the entire drug development value chain, from discovery through to market launch. Management estimate that over 50% of all drugs on the market have been through some part of Instem's platform at some stage of their development.

To learn more about Instem solutions and its mission, please visit www.instem.com