Final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2015

MedaPhor Group plc (“MedaPhor” or “the Company” or “the Group”), the global provider of advanced ultrasound education simulators for medical professionals, announces its final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2015 and its intention to raise £3.2m in a placing with new and existing shareholders. Whilst the Company was not incorporated until 7 May 2014, it acquired MedaPhor Limited on 15 August 2014 and these final audited results have been prepared as if MedaPhor Limited had been owned and controlled by the Company throughout the current and comparative accounting periods.

Highlights

  • Sales increased 22% to £2.2m (2014: £1.8m);
  • Gross profit margin increased by 3% to 65% (2014: 62%);
  • First significant multi-system orders from UK universities;
  • Launched “Cloud Case Library” which brings potential for recurring revenue streams;
  • Expanded existing international reseller network into France, Spain, Romania and Southern Africa;
  • Post-year end awarded milestone contract with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG); and
  • Announced intention to raise £3.2m in a placing with new and existing shareholders.

Commenting on the results, Riccardo Pigliucci, Chairman of MedaPhor said:

“This has been an excellent year for the Group, which has seen increased sales, a growing and trained reseller network and most importantly, resulted in us being selected by the ABOG to develop our award winning ScanTrainer simulator for the testing of examinees’ practical scanning skills in future ABOG certification exams. The launch of our fee based cloud services for ScanTrainer is also particularly exciting and with the announcement of the £3.2m placing, we look forward to growing the business globally in 2016 and beyond.”

The annual accounts have been published on the Company’s website – https://www.medaphor.com/investors/financial-reports/ 

1 April 2016

Contacts:

CEO, MedaPhor Group plcStuart Gall Tel: +44 (0)2920 756534
Nominated Advisor, CenkosBobbie Hilliam Tel: +44 (0)207 3978900
Corporate Broking, CenkosJulia Morse Tel: +44 (0)207 3978900

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

INTRODUCTION

I am pleased to present MedaPhor’s results for the year ended 31 December 2015.

During the year, the Group has focussed on continuing to develop its award winning ScanTrainer simulator, such that it meets the training and examination needs of the UK, European and North American markets.  This has included significantly expanding its range of teaching modules and case studies, translating ScanTrainer into six of the world’s most widely spoken languages and introducing a new cloud based service that both expands the usability for ScanTrainer, but also adds the potential for future recurring revenue services.  Much of the year was also spent tendering and piloting ScanTrainer with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), the official body for certifying obstetricians and gynaecologists in the United States.  I am delighted to say that this hard work resulted in the signature of a partnership agreement on 29 February 2016 for MedaPhor to develop and implement the ScanTrainer for its planned use as the ABOG’s ultrasound skills examination simulator within its obstetrics and gynaecology certification exams.  We believe this is a significant milestone for MedaPhor and its ScanTrainer simulator.  There are over 200 hospitals in the US with obstetrics and gynaecology residency programs whose physicians require ABOG certification at the end of their specialty training and there would be an obvious benefit in these institutions utilising ScanTrainer.  Only 6% of this market currently has a ScanTrainer simulator.

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL REVIEW

Summary results from continuing operations were:

20152014
£M£M
Revenue2.21.8
Gross profit1.41.1
Gross margin65%62%
Loss before tax(1.7)(1.5)
Loss after tax(1.6)(1.5)
Cash at bank1.32.9

Revenue increased by 22% compared to the prior year (2014: 33%) with the UK leading the way in spite of weak NHS funding, thanks to a number of large multi-system sales orders from educational institutions, which boosted sales in the territory by 37% compared to last year.  These multi-system orders, from Teesside University and the University of Cumbria, demonstrate the potential of ScanTrainer to be used by large educational institutions as a cloud-based training system.  Teesside selected ScanTrainer as the core ultrasound training simulator for its new Regional Ultrasound Simulation Centre and Cumbria chose ScanTrainer for its direct entry Medical Ultrasound MSc course.

Sales in North America increased by 13%, but the most significant event for the Group in the US was the effort put into the tender and pilot for the ABOG, that resulted in ABOG selecting ScanTrainer for its planned use as the ABOG’s ultrasound skills examination simulator within its obstetrics and gynaecology certification exams. The ABOG conducts nearly 2,000 certification examinations per annum. Although financial terms of the partnership agreement are undisclosed, we believe that this relationship will significantly enhance our presence in the US simulation market.

Rest of the World sales were up 9% as the majority of the year was spent adding additional resellers in France, Spain and Portugal, Romania and Southern Africa and we are looking forward to benefiting from their contribution in future years.

The directors believe that the Group’s continual investment in research and development activities played a key part in the success of the business and winning the ABOG contract referred to above.   During the year we launched our first radiology focussed Super Assessment module replicating the nature of real life scanning in a busy hospital clinic, by testing a trainee’s ability to diagnose randomly selected patient scenarios.  We also entered the Emergency Medicine market with the launch of our new eFAST and FAST learning modules, which are designed to help ScanTrainer address the unique requirements of this market.

Excluding share issue costs incurred in 2014 following the Company’s admission to AIM, Group overheads increased by 34% on the prior year which reflected the increased investment in sales and marketing activities and the full year impact of the regulatory and compliance costs associated with being a publicly traded company.

Year-end cash stood at £1,287,767 (2014: £2,866,612) and as indicated in last year’s Strategic Report, the Group will need to secure further investment finance in the second half of this year to fund the Group’s ongoing working capital requirements (see Funding and Current Trading below).

Post year-end we launched ScanTrainer Professional 2016 Edition. This new version of the ScanTrainer simulator system significantly enhances our fee-based cloud service by enabling users to upload and publish their own patient scans for use on their ScanTrainer simulator.  In addition, we launched ScanTrainer Cloud Case Library, a new fee-based service that offers cloud users access to a growing cloud-based library of over 200 normal and abnormal patient cases.

FUNDING AND CURRENT TRADING

In last year’s Annual Report and the 2015 Half Year Results we indicated that further funding would be required in the second half of 2016.   On 31 March 2016 the Company entered into a placing agreement with Cenkos Securities plc (“the Placing Agreement”) for the proposed placing (“the Placing”) of 7,111,112  newly issued shares of 1 pence each in the capital of the Company at a price of 45 pence per share (“the Placing Shares”) to raise £3.2m before costs.  The Company has received binding commitments from investors in respect of the Placing Shares, subject to admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM, the passing of the resolutions at a general meeting (where applicable) and all conditions in the Placing Agreement being satisfied.  The Company has also received irrevocable undertakings from holders of the requisite number of shares to vote in favour of the resolutions required to approve the placing, at the general meeting.

Current trading is in line with management’s expectation and we have a healthy pipeline order book which, combined with the recent ABOG contract win and the funding outlined above, gives the Group a solid platform to support future growth.

Riccardo Pigliucci

Chairman

31 March 2016

the full announcement and strategic report is available here.