'Challenging' year sees Integumen's losses widen as costs soar

Personal healthcare company Integumen on Monday saw its share price fall more than 15% after reporting wider losses as administrative costs skyrocketed for the full year.

For the year ending 31 December the AIM-traded company recorded a loss before tax of £9.6m, up 776% from its loss the previous year, as the company’s administrative costs increased by 809% to £9.7m.

The company said £6.7m of this administrative expenditure was due to impairment of intangible assets, which did not account for any expenditure the previous year.

The charge arose from intellectual property recognised on acquisitions and development costs on certain research and development projects relating to skincare testing.

Meanwhile, the company’s revenues increased by 358% to £0.24m but this growth was below expectations.

Integumen also conditionally agreed to acquire 9.35% of Cellulac, a company concerned with the production of natural oils and biodegradable plastic ingredients, with a view to a licence agreement granting it the right to sell and license some of Cellulac's technology to third parties.

Furthermore, the company proposed to raise £0.7m through an equity placing and subscription as part of the proposed acquisition.

Tony Richardson, chairman of Integumen, said: "This was a challenging year for Integumen, attributable to the slower than anticipated growth in sales. The board has therefore taken action and considerable time to identify the optimum solution to generate shareholder returns - we believe the acquisition of a stake in Cellulac will provide the group with multiple opportunities to accelerate revenue generation and enable us to participate in the compelling market of biodegradable plastics."

At 1348 BST, Integumen’s shares were down 18.36% at 0.7p.