Eden Research narrows losses on massive revenue gains

AIM-quoted biopesticide and natural microencapsulation technology firm Eden Research narrowed losses last year thanks to a significant boost in revenue.

Eden's revenue grew like the proverbial beanstalk, up 375% to £1.9m in 2017, leading to a 57.89% year-on-year decrease in pre-tax losses to £800,000. Net cash balances were boosted to £3.7m from £1.5m.

Throughout the year Eden signed multiple commercial agreements with Sipcam, including an evaluation and option agreement, for which the Italian agrochemical giant paid a fee of €600,000 to Eden, establishing a long-term collaborative partnership between the two.

Eden also received EU approval for its first agrochemical, fungicide product, Mevalone, with first sales being achieved in France shortly thereafter as the firm waited on various approvals and patent protection in Cyprus, Albania, Portugal, Spain, Greece and the United States.

Tom Lupton retired as Eden's chairman and non-executive director on 31 December 2017.

Lykele van der Broek, Lupton's replacement as chairman, said, "Significant progress was made in 2017 and it is particularly pleasing that our first fungicide product, Mevalone, is now in the top three wine producing countries in the world. This is a major milestone for the company and sets a good platform from which we can build.

"The strong growth achieved in 2017, driven by new regulatory approvals, is expected to continue in the current year and consequently the board remains confident that 2018 will be another year of strategic and financial progress," van der Broek concluded.

As of 1120 GMT, shares had grown 4.53% to 8.36p.

House broker Shore Capital said: "Management now seems to be building a more sustainable commercial platform with 41% of revenues generated from product sales compared to licence agreement royalties in FY2017. We expect this to grow in the coming year and beyond as management look to continue to develop its product portfolio amid a market that is increasingly adopting biological products."