OptiBiotix Health plc

("OptiBiotix" or the "Company" or "the Group")

Trading Update

OptiBiotix Health plc (OptiBiotix), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, provides the following unaudited trading update ahead of the Group's final results for the year ended 31 December 2021.  

Financial update

This update reports on the 12 months of the financial year ending 31 December 2021. These are preliminary and unaudited figures and are provided to give investors an insight into the progress of the Company and may differ from reported full year audited results.

Total invoiced sales for the Group were £2.2m (2020: £1.5m) an increase of 46.7% on the previous year and in line with market expectations. Administrative expenses (excluding non-cash items such as share based payments and amortisation) were £2.1m (2020: £1.6m), an increase of 31.3% on the previous year, largely due to one-off recruitment and consultancy costs and investment in expanding the team as previously announced in the Company's interim results. Intellectual property, R&D, and travel costs decreased as patents were granted and the effects of COVID-19 reduced research and development activity with partners. Gross profit increased to £1.2m up 36.5% on 2020 (£879k).

Both the Company's Prebiotic and Probiotic businesses contributed to strong sales performance and were profitable during the year:-

OptiBiotix's wholly owned subsidiary, ProBiotix Health Ltd (ProBiotix), delivered an EBITDA profit of £195k, a 122% increase on 2020 (£88k) with total sales of £1.1m (2020: £821k), up 34%. Income for 2020 included a £250k milestone payment for the development of LPLDL into a biopharmaceutical, giving an underlying product sales growth of 92.6% for the period. ProBiotix signed four commercial agreements during 2021, the most significant being the expansion of territories with Seed Health from the USA to include Europe, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand etc), and Asia (excluding India) for the supply of LP_LDL® in Seed^TM's DS-01 product, a multi-strain synbiotic product which contains OptiBiotix's Lactobacillus plantarum LP_LDL®.

OptiBiotix's Prebiotic ingredient business delivered an EBITDA profit of £83k, a 23% increase on 2020 (£67k) with total sales of £1.1m (2020: £557K), up 97.5%. Underlying sales, excluding licensing fees, increased by 122%. Sales of its prebiotic weight management ingredient SlimBiome to existing partners developed well. Three new commercial agreements were signed with market leading partners: MyProtein part of The Hut Group, Apollo Hospitals (India) and Nahdi Medical (KSA). The new agreements extended the geographic reach into the main markets of Europe and Asia and the launch of prebiotic lean muscle mass support ingredient LeanBiome created an entry point into the lucrative and fast growing sports nutrition market.

As at 31 December 2021, the Company held £2.04m cash in the bank (2020: £865k). Once R&D tax credits, recoverable VAT, and debtors and creditors are accounted for the balance is £3.2m (2020: £1.4m).

The Company holds 20.7% of the issued share capital of SkinBiotherapeutics plc (AIM: SBTX), which is valued as of 31 December 2021 at £13.7m (2020: £8.9m).

Stephen O'Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: "This has been another year of progress for OptiBiotix with its probiotic and prebiotic businesses growing sales and profitability in a challenging and uncertain global economic environment. The Company has made good progress against its stated aims of focusing on a smaller number of large partners in key strategic markets and expects to see the benefits of these in 2022 and beyond. 

"The Company is in a strong position with profitable trading divisions, an appreciating asset in SkinBioTherapeutics plc, and a strong balance sheet allowing it to invest and expand sales and marketing capabilities, bring its second generation products to markets, and in-license or acquire technology to ensure a continuous pipeline of technology solutions to ensure diversified future growth of the group across multiple opportunities in this exciting area of healthcare."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but rather are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates, and projections about its industry; its beliefs; and assumptions. Words such as 'anticipates,' 'expects,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'estimates,' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control, are difficult to predict, and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. The Company cautions security holders and prospective security holders not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the view of the Company only as of the date of this announcement. The forward-looking statements made in this announcement relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. The Company will not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions or updates to these forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances, or unanticipated events occurring after the date of this announcement except as required by law or by any appropriate regulatory authority.

For further information, please contact:

About OptiBiotix - www.optibiotix.com 

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), which was formed in March 2012, brings science to the development of compounds which modify the human microbiome - the collective genome of the microbes in the body - in order to prevent and manage human disease and promote wellness.

OptiBiotix has an extensive R&D programme working with leading academics in the development of microbial strains, compounds, and formulations which are used as active ingredients and supplements. More than twenty international food and healthcare supplement companies have signed agreements with OptiBiotix to incorporate their human microbiome modulators into a wide range of food products and drinks.

OptiBiotix is also developing its own range of consumer supplements and health products. The Company's current areas of focus include obesity, cardiovascular health, and diabetes.