Ixico FY revenues projected to beat expectations

Full-year revenues were anticipated to be £9.2m, down from £9.5m in 2020 but ahead of market expectations of £8.7m as year-on-year revenues remained broadly flat despite the impact of Covid-19 and lost revenues resulting from the company's largest client's move to cease dosing patients in its Huntington's Disease trials.

Ixico stated its year-end order book had slipped from £21.7m a year ago to £18.8m at the end of September, partly due to a £7.1m adverse impact from the aforementioned HD trials, while year-end cash slipped from £7.9m to £6.7m, reflecting a more than £2.0m technology investment to support long-term growth.

The AIM-listed group added that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were expected to be "materially ahead of market expectations" of £1.2m and the previous year's print of £1.3m thanks to strong trading in the final quarter, "careful management" of discretionary costs and "several positive one-time impacts".

"Benefiting from a strong order book, and an improving business outlook resulting from the initiation of new neuroimaging clinical trials during the 2022 financial year, the company expects a return to revenue growth, albeit at a lower rate than recent historical levels," said Ixico.

However, Ixico added that over the coming year, it intends to continue to pursue its investment plan to accelerate long-term sustained growth, meaning it also expects to see lower profitability in 2022.

As of 1130 BST, Ixico shares were up 0.96% at 85.32p.