Fusion Antibodies soars as optimism overshadows widened loss

Fusion Antibodies' shares leapt on Tuesday as it reported a significant increase in second half orders, although the company still registered a wider annual loss and a drop in revenues.

The antibody engineering services specialists reported a loss before tax of £1.5m for the year ended 31 March, versus £0.7m of red ink one year ago, as sales dropped by 19% to £2.2m as pricing pressures and new competition led to a weak first half of the year.

However, the AIM traded company said that a strong second half performance was achieved through a mix of factors including addressing the external competitive pressures seen during the first half of the year and expanding and improving the quality of the company's business development and marketing function.

Fusion Antibodies remained confident that order levels seen in the second half of the year can be maintained over the ongoing year and even be augmented by new orders for its newly released RAMP service, such that significant revenue growth is achievable in the current financial year.

RAMP is an advanced affinity maturation service to improve performance of antibody based drugs.

Paul Kerr, chief executive of Fusion Antibodies, said: "We are encouraged to see some good initial interest from potential customers in our new RAMP technology which will enable customers to improve the performance of many of their antibody based drugs. We are excited about the next 12 months and are grateful to our shareholders for their continued support."

Fusion Antibodies' shares were up 33.64% at 71.50p at 1102 BST.