NEW YORK (360Dx) – Toronto-based SQI Diagnostics said this week that its revenues for the first quarter of FY 2018, was $376,000, down 9 percent year over year from $415,000.
The firm said that revenues for the three months that ended Dec. 31, 2017 included proceeds from the sale of two platforms, service revenues, and kit sales. Service revenues declined over the prior-year quarter as customers transitioned from development through validation, the firm said, adding that it sold the two platforms because two "additional customers" entered validation in the quarter. SQI noted that it ended the first quarter with six customers that are all generating revenues now.
The firm reported a net loss that widened to $1.8 million, or a $.02 loss per share, from a net loss of $1.5 million, or a $.02 loss per share, in Q1 2017.
The increase in net loss was due primarily to lower sales in the quarter and increased R&D expenses for the development of customers' products, the firm said. R&D expenditures for the quarter rose to $935,000, an 18 percent increase compared to $792,000 in the prior-year quarter.
It SG&A expenses rose 11 percent to $680,000 from $610,000 in the Q1 2017.
As of December 31, the firm had $4.6 million in working capital.
Bio-Techne this week reported that its revenue for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017 was $154.2 million, up 17 percent year over year from $131.8 million, exceeding the average analyst estimate of $146.3 million.
The firm's diagnostics business segment revenues fell 4 percent to $23.4 million from $24.3 million in the prior year. Sales volume in the quarter was negatively affected by continued "push-outs” of orders by original equipment manufacturers "in a very cost-conscious diagnostics industry," the firm said.
Bio-Techne's biotechnology segment posted revenues of $101.4 million, up 18 percent year over year from $86 million. The firm said that within biotechnology its Advanced Cell Diagnostics business, acquired in July 2016, grew more than 40 percent year over year.
The company's protein platforms segment revenues were up 37 percent to $29.4 million from $21.5 million in the prior-year quarter.
Its net income was $48.8 million, or $1.29 per share, compared to $7.5 million, or $.20 per share, in the prior-year. Bio-Techne said that its earnings per share experienced a one-time benefit of $.94 because of changes to US tax legislation.
The firm report adjusted earnings per share of $1.02, up 26 percent over the prior year, beating the average analyst estimate of $.92. The impact of recently passed tax legislation positively impacted adjusted earnings per share by $.08, or 10 percent over the prior-year quarter, the firm said.
Bio-Techne's R&D expenses fell 5 percent to $13.9 million from $13.3 million in Q2 2016, and its SG&A expenses rose 12 percent to $63.8 million from $57 million in the prior-year quarter.
At the end of the Q2, the firm had $121.5 million in cash and equivalents and $40.9 million in short-term available-for-sale investments.
Bio-Techne this week also announced that its board of directors has decided to pay a dividend of $.32 per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017. The quarterly dividend will be payable March 2, 2018 to shareholders of record on Feb. 16, 2018.
Analyte Health is offering IQuity’s IsolateIBS-IBD test as part of their partnership originally announced last month. The test differentiates irritable bowel syndrome from inflammatory bowel disease, distinguishing Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Based on a blood draw, it uses a patent-pending RNA expression analysis and delivers accuracy of greater than 90 percent, according to the two firms.
Immunovia announced this week that Massachusetts General Hospital will participate in PanFAM-1, a multicenter prospective validation study for early diagnosis of familial pancreatic cancer in high-risk individuals.
The study is designed to validate Immunovia's blood test, IMMray PanCan-d, and will analyze more than 1,000 individuals over three years across sites in the US and Europe already offering FPC screening programs.
The other PanFAM-1 partners to date are Mount Sinai, Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Sciences University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Liverpool, Ramon y Cajal Institute for Health Research, and Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
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