OptioBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) said its revenues in the first three months of the year rose by 928% year-on-year boosted by its partnership agreements.
The total invoiced sales of its LPLDL and SlimBiome offerings as ingredients or final product were £407,844, compared to £39,645 in the same period of 2019. On top of those revenues, the company, which is focused on developing compounds to tackle obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, also received proceeds of £162,500 of investment income from the disposal of shares in SkinBioTherapeutics PLC )LON:SBTX).
OptiBiotix pointed out that it had signed nine commercial agreements in the first quarter of 2020, with a further four deals in the subsequent months, making a total of 13 agreements for the year to date. These agreements aim to extend the company's geographic reach into 119 countries.
The company now has 40 of its 62 deals delivering revenues with 70% of deals expected to deliver revenues in the first year of the agreement, compared to 35% in 2019, and 33% in 2018.
As the number of agreements increases, so does brand awareness, the group said, making it easier to attract interest from potential new partners and making the partnership negotiations swifter.
OptiBiotix noted that there was little contribution in this period from licence or royalty payments as these tend to roll in during the second half of the year. It also cautioned investors against extrapolating the trends of the first three months of 2020 over the full year, noting that for up-and-coming companies such as OptiBiotix, costs and income can vary widely from month to month.
"With more agreements generating revenues, and a greater number of deals generating income in the first year of agreement, we have seen a large increase in revenues(928%) when compared to the same period last year, albeit against a low base,” Stephen O’Hara, the chief executive officer of OptiBiotix said in a statement.
“We anticipate further revenue growth in 2020 as existing deals contribute to full-year revenues, we extend the application of our products into new areas, and we continue to execute deals with new partners. We believe interest in the microbiome will continue to grow and the market opportunity increase and look forward to building a sustainable and profitable business," he added.