Ixico's income falls slightly but has a number of contracts in the pipeline

In trading update for the year ended 30 September, the company reported revenues of £3.1m and other income of £700,000, both unchanged from the previous year. Income totalled £3.8m, a 9.5% decrease.

The company said the stable revenues reflected the start-up of seven new clinical trials including five Alzheimer's disease studies, one in progressive supranuclear palsy and a first contract in Parkinson's disease with pharmaceutical Oxford Biomedica.

Project start-up activities included the $7m long-term contract with a leading pharmaceutical announced in August 2015.

As these projects ramp-up they will make a material contribution to revenue from the current financial year onwards.

Revenues in the year were also attributed to a change in the sales mix including a contribution by Biogen, a US biotechnology company, towards the development of Assessa PML, a product from the company’s Assessa digital platform, which helps the early detection of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a side effect of certain drug treatments for Multiple Sclerosis.

Net cash at the end of September was £3.1m, including £2.7m from an equity placing in November 2015, and was a small decrease from the net cash of £3.2m at the end of March. Cash inflows for the second half included grant reimbursement and research and development tax credits.

On Thursday the company announced it had signed a $1.2m contract with a new global pharmaceutical customer for advanced imaging clinical trial services in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Shares in Ixico were down 2.14% to 27.40p at 0944 BST.