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SR Pharma: Interim results
for the six months ended 30 June 2005 |
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S R PHARMA PLC
UNAUDITED INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED
30 JUNE 2005
Chairman’s Statement
Dear Shareholder,
I am delighted to report that the first stage of an effective turnaround of
your Company has now been completed, with the acquisition of Atugen AG and
the completion of a £10 million fundraising in July 2005. On a personal
basis I would like to welcome our new shareholders and to thank the existing
shareholders for their support and patience over the last 12 months.
Acquisition of Atugen AG
At an EGM held on 11 July 2005 the acquisition of Atugen AG was approved
thereby providing SR Pharma plc with a leading position in the exciting
field of RNA interference technology. RNAi has the potential to be a new
paradigm in the development of therapeutic products and although the sector
is relatively young already major pharmaceutical players have begun to form
development collaborations with companies in this field.
Atugen AG, which has already provided contract development services to over
20 leading pharma and biotech companies, has first class research and
pre-clinical capabilities based in Berlin, Germany. It is your Board’s
intention to establish serious third party collaborations in the RNAi field
with biotech and pharmaceutical companies in order to accelerate the
development and commercialisation of therapeutic products emerging from this
technology. Whilst we intend to continue to generate contract research
revenues as appropriate utilising our proprietary technology the primary
focus will be to establish RNAi therapeutic product collaborations.
Currently we are in early discussions with a number of companies and
anticipate making further announcements over the next six months.
M.vaccae
In terms of M.vaccae I can confirm that the Company has initiated
discussions with third parties firstly, to ensure that robust manufacturing
processes are developed as appropriate and secondly, to investigate the
future development of this product through effective development
collaborations.
New Funding
On 28 July 2005 the enlarged company announced the completion of a £10
million fundraising, which brought in some of the best performing UK small
cap funds and included a strategic investment by Introgen Therapeutics Inc,
further emphasising the interest in our RNAi technology. Notwithstanding the
raising of the new investment funds your Board will continue to explore M&A
and additional funding opportunities, in order to further strengthen the
financial position of the Group and to minimise the dependence on any one
product or technology. I would expect to be able to make further
announcements about this over the next 12 months.
Financials
The Group’s interim figures for the six months to 30 June 2005 relate to the
period prior to both the acquisition of Atugen AG and the £10 million
fundraising completed in July 2005. The figures show a post tax loss for the
six months of approximately £725,000, and bank balances of £1.75 million.
The cost figures demonstrate the continued scaling back of the Research and
Development costs in the early part of the year as resources were diverted
during the period to the pursuit of M&A opportunities.
As a result of these transactions there are now approximately 90.3m shares
in issue, compared to 23.9m at 30 June, trading at 30p at the time of
writing. After paying all transaction costs and normal running costs for
both operational entities since June, the bank balances currently stand at
approximately £10 million.
Strengthened Board
As a result of the corporate activity completed during the period your Board
has been further strengthened with the appointment of Jeremy Curnock-Cook,
David U’Prichard and Bernd Wetzel as non-executive directors. Each of these
gentlemen brings extensive experience of the healthcare sector and I look
forward to working closely with them. In addition I am very pleased to
welcome from Atugen Dr Klaus Giese as Chief Scientific Officer and Thomas
Christely as Chief Operating Officer. Also I can confirm that upon
completion of the recent fundraising I agreed to take on the role of
Executive Chairman.
The new executive management team is already working well together and we
are making significant progress on the integration of the two businesses.
In conclusion, when I became Chairman last year I indicated that my goal was
to work with the stakeholders of SR Pharma plc to improve the long term
viability and prosperity of the Company. I recognise that some tough
decisions have had to be taken but I believe that over the last six months
we have made considerable progress towards achieving this goal. With the
first stage completed I, along with the executive management team, now
relish the challenge of further developing this business.
Iain G Ross
Chairman
SR Pharma plc
27 September 2005
For more information please contact:
SR Pharma plc
Iain Ross, Executive Chairman
Melvyn Davies, Finance Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 307 1620
Northbank Communications
Emma Palmer
Rowan Minnion
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 8150
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