Omega Diagnostics Group Plc (AIM: ODX) updated investors ahead of next months interim results, the medical diagnostics company announced that turnover for the business is approximately 9% ahead of the same period in 2008 at £2.87 million. Growth continued in most regions and trading remains in line with management expectations.
Omega specialises in the diagnosis of infectious diseases, particularly Syphilis, TB and Dengue Fever. Omega sells a wide range of immunoassay-based products in the in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market, through a strong distribution network in over 100 countries.
Omega recently added food intolerance and autoimmune tests for diseases such as anaemia, connective tissue disease and renal disease. All products are designed for use in Clinical Laboratories and Rapid Tests are designed for use at the point of care.
Under Omega’s Cambridge Nutritional Sciences subsidiary, sales of the macroarray-based Food Detective™ continued to perform well with substantial growth particularly in UK/Europe. Overall, sales of 14,957 kits have been achieved in the first half of this year providing revenues of £348,000, a substantial increase compared with 5,266 kits in 2008 which generated revenues of £130,000.
The Food Detective™ was the world’s first food intolerance self test, through a small blood sample from a finger-prick, the Food Detective kit can test for a variety of common food intolerances including among other cereals such as wheat & gluten, nuts, meats and dairy.
Since the last financial year, distributors have been appointed in a further 16 countries, widening the coverage to 34 countries to date, which is expected to underpin continuing organic growth of this product.
Omega’s other food intolerance related testing kit has also performed well. Sales of the Genarrayt™ kits and instrument packages for the first half are approximately 19% ahead of this time last year, following a further 13 system installations have occurred during this period in India, Italy, Canada, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Thailand, bringing the total installations since launch to 35.
Genarrayt’s new non-contact inkjet Microarrayer is fully validated and now in production. The Genarrayt product is a rapid colorimetric microarray-based ‘Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay’ (ELISA) for the measurement of Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to 221 foods in whole blood, human serum or plasma. Many people exhibit chronic food sensitivity reactions to specific food antigens. General lethargy, weight gain, dermatitis, arthritis and tiredness are often associated with food allergies.
Omega Diagnostics Limited was formed in September 2006 through a reverse acquisition of an AIM-listed cash shell company called Quintessentially English PLC.
The business grew through further acquisitions in 2007 - Genesis Diagnostics Limited and Cambridge Nutritional Sciences Limited.
Last month Omega Diagnostics successfully raised £1m through an oversubscribed conditional placing of 5,000,000 shares at 20p per share. The placing funded the acquisition of Co-Tek, a British based company which produces various tests for diagnosing bacterial diseases.
This morning’s update highlighted the progress being made at Co-Tek with Omega stating that they ‘have made good progress and are confident of the increased contribution this acquisition will make to our infectious disease product area’.