Blis Technologies anticipates a slower move to profitability after its first-half loss widened, and says it faces disciplinary action from the stock market regulator over an announcement it made in August.
Blis Technologies, the NZX-listed biotech company, anticipates a slower move to profitability after its first-half loss widened, and says it faces disciplinary action from the stock market regulator over an announcement it made in August.
The company reported a loss of $808,000, or 0.07 cents per share, in the six months ended Sept. 30, compared to a loss of $764,000, or 0.11 cents, a year earlier, Dunedin-based Blis said in a statement yesterday. Revenue climbed 59 percent to $1.14 million and the company said it is on target to double annual sales, though increased costs to shift its laboratory, slow lead times for product launches with key customers, and higher expenses to set up production and gain export approval meant the result came in below budget.
Blis expects to post an annual loss in line with its 2014 result, when it reported a net deficit of $1.54 million.
"The company does not now expect to move to profitable operation in the immediate future," it said.
Shares of Blis spiked 50 percent in August when the company said that its Chinese partner Sinopharm, the largest oral health and pharmaceutical company in China, planned to release Blis products in 600 pharmacies across the country, from a previous 30.
Its half-year report shows that announcement is subject to claim through the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal, with the stock market operator advising Blis "they consider the timing of the release of this information to be in breach of NZX listing rules."
Blis said the level of penalty being sought is "excessive" and it will present its case to the tribunal. It estimates total costs will be less than $50,000.
The company generated an operational cash outflow of $752,000 in the half, more than twice the $313,000 outflow a year earlier, and had cash and equivalents of $2.69 million as at Sept. 30.
The shares last traded at 2.6 cents, valuing the company at $28.7 million. The stock has climbed 44 percent this year.
(BusinessDesk)
