Last year was one of investing for future growth for Tekcapital (LON:TEK), the provider of technology intellectual property services.
In its full-year results statement the group said it made strong progress towards the strategic objectives outlined when it floated just over a year ago, including expansion of the technical, sales and marketing team; a broadening of the service offering; and a lengthening of the group's international reach.
The number of retained clients for its Technology Transfer service – a kind of match-making service for businesses and inventors crossed with an early warning system on potentially disruptive technologies – grew by 143% to 17 clients in the year ended 30 November 2014.
That drove a sharp increase in revenue from a low base of US$35,213 to US$210,337, but as an early stage company laying down markers in its chosen fields, administrative expenses rose much faster than revenue, resulting in a loss before tax of just under a million dollars, versus a loss of US$44,709 the year before.
While waiting for the seeds of investment to bloom, the company has been focusing on reducing its monthly fixed costs, and it told investors it has been successful in doing so, with the implementation of a scalable per report, variable costs structure significantly cutting overheads.
Since the end of the reporting period, the company has acquired the exclusive rights to 16 separate intellectual properties (IP) in the areas of reduced-fat food production, non-invasive glucose measurement for diabetics and advanced optics.
“The directors are confident that meaningful revenues will arise from the sub-licensing or on-sale of rights held in its new IP portfolio. With an increasing number of companies making ever faster and more disruptive use of innovative ideas sourced exogenously, and with patented university technologies an increasingly valued currency, the market opportunity for the group is both very large and continuing to grow,” the company's chairman and chief executive officer, Clifford Gross, said.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at US$1.37mln at the end of November, since when the company has raised US$3.25mln through a share placing.
Tekcapital shares were off 0.7p at 32.55p in lunchtime trading.