Cambridge Cognition slips as low order intake sends loss deeper

Cambridge Cognition's shares slipped on Thursday after it reported that low order intake from 2017 had caused its annual losses to widen and revenues to fall.

For the year ended 31 December, the neuroscience technology developer achieved revenue of £6.1m, down 9% compared to the year before, while its loss before tax expanded from £0.3m to £1.5m after cost of sales increased by 45% to £0.9m and administrative expenses climbed by 4% to £6.7m.

Explaining the stumbling revenues, a statement from the AIM traded company said its software and services division suffered a low order intake in 2017, meaning less revenue was carried forward into 2018, coupled with a larger number of multi-year contracts.

The AIM traded company also announced it has raised £2.5m through a share placing of 3.2m shares and subscription of 34,723 shares.

Steven Powell, chief executive of Cambridge Cognition, said: "The funds secured today will enable us to accelerate our development in two key growth areas of eCOA and Digital Health. The growth in sales orders in these areas already demonstrates that our customers are receptive to our innovative offerings in these areas at a time when the interest in cognitive assessment is growing and commercial opportunities for digital health solutions has never been higher."

With this injection of funds and £6m of future revenues already secured a statement from the company said it is "well positioned" to drive growth and fulfil its primary objective of sustainable profitability, further adding that its digital phenotyping programme is on course to make "significant" advances in 2019.

"We expect to continue to deliver on our stated plans, in particular broadening our penetration of cognitive and clinical assessment markets. We also expect to further develop and nurture key corporate relationships that we have initiated in the year as we continue to drive to sustainable profitability. Our order book and expanding technology platform gives us much confidence in 2019 and beyond," said Powell.

Finally, Cambridge Cognition also announced the appointment of Matthew Stork, who has held executive roles at medical device maker Smith & Nephew and InHealth Group, as its new chief operating officer.

Cambridge Cognition's shares were down 7.88% at 76.00p at 1332 GMT.