Provexis sales pick up but losses remain stable

Provexis, the developer of a 'heart healthy' food additive, reported little movement in half-year losses despite a 56% increase in revenues.

The AIM-listed company said sales via its partnership with distributor DSM Nutritional Products grew 34% to £120,000 in the six months ended 30 September, with more than 90 regional consumer healthcare brands launching products using the Fruitflow functional food ingredient.

There was 36% sales growth from Holland & Barrett in the UK grew to £47,000 in the period, which should be boosted in the second half of the year after September saw the signing of a contract with to list the Fruitflow+ Omega-3 two-in-one supplement with the health food store chain.

Provexis, which also received £26,000 for marketing support, reported an underlying operating loss of £154,000 due to increased patent costs.

Cash stood at £556,000 at 30 September, including the funds received in advance of a £395,000 share placing completed in October.

As it developed a "strong, long lasting and wide ranging patent portfolio for Fruitflow", executive chairman Dawson Buck said the company is "well placed" to maximise "numerous commercial opportunities".

This includes the planned collaboration in China with By-Health, a £3bn listed Chinese dietary supplement business.

Buck says the planned launch of a number of Fruitflow-based products was "progressing well", led by the need to obtain 'blue cap' health claim status as a dietary supplement with the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), a new Chinese market regulator which has taken over the responsibilities of the former China Food and Drug Administration.

By-Health, which has already launched a Fruitflow-based sports nutrition product for the exclusive use of Chinese national athletes, is paying for six clinical studies in China to obtain blue cap health claim status, of which one animal study and one human study have been completed in China, a third is currently ongoing at a Chinese clinical site and three further planned human studies in 2019 have been confirmed.

Buck added that a jointly funded research and collaboration agreement is intended to include a seventh clinical trial in China, which it is now intended to be signed via a research and collaboration agreement "in the first half of 2019, with the bulk of the research programme to be completed in 2019".