AcouSort: Interim Report 2021-10-01 – 2021-12-31
Fourth quarter (2021-10-01 – 2021-12-31)
• Income amounted to TSEK 535 (1 181)
• Result before tax amounted to TSEK -3 585 (-3 404)
• Result per share* was SEK -0.27 (-0.30)
Twelve months (2021-01-01 – 2021-12-31)
• Income amounted to TSEK 3 007 (4 928)
• Result before tax amounted to TSEK -12 200 (-7 978)
• Result per share was SEK -0.92 (-0.70)
• Equity ratio amounted to 90 % (73 %) on 31 December 2021
CEO Comments
During the last quarter of the year, we noted that the business climate slowly but surely began to return to more normal patterns. We made our first longer business trip and we have re-started meeting our partners in person. This is certainly a most welcome and important complement to the online-only meetings we had during the pandemic which nevertheless served us well during the last 2 years. At the same time, we continued to develop our business at home and are very proud to have been able to launch two new products, AcouPlasma Optical and AcouWash 2.
In terms of earnings for the fourth quarter, income amounted to TSEK 535 (1 181) while earnings amounted to TSEK -3 585 (-3 404) SEK. Revenues have been affected by the prevailing restrictions, but at the same time I want to emphasize that our business can vary significantly from quarter to quarter.
Importantly, we have been able to work effectively with development inhouse. As a result, we are now even stronger, with new and improved products as a result. This means that we see a very bright future.
In early November, our first OEM product, AcouPlasmaOptical, was launched. It is a unique solution that enables optical measurements of blood plasma in diagnostic and analytic instruments. The fact that we have now incorporated our core technology into an OEM component with the potential to revolutionize how blood testing is performed is an important milestone for AcouSort. This is in line with the healthcare’s paradigm shift to point-of-care testing of blood samples, which will make healthcare much more efficient and save costs, time and lives. Our long-term business strategy is therefore based on delivering OEM components for automated sample preparation for the life science industry.
Another important milestone achieved during the quarter was the launch of AcouWash 2, which is the new version of the company's cell washing and separation system. AcouWash 2 and its applications were presented virtually in October at the international µTAS conference and received a very positive reception. It is important to mention that the continuous improvement and testing of our standalone products is also of key importance for future OEM development.
In early 2022, AcouSort's Japanese partner extended its lease of an AcouWash system. The new agreement also entails an upgrade to a new AcouWash 2 system and application support for 2022. Delivery of the new AcouWash 2 system is expected to take place during the first half of this year.
During the fourth quarter AcouSort completed a rights issue, which was very well received by the market and oversubscribed. The capital from the rights issue of almost SEK 40 million means that we can invest even more in development and marketing during the coming years. High on the agenda is to visit both old and new potential customers.
With AcouPlasmaOptical and the new upgraded AcouWash 2 in place, we are now looking forward to the new year with great optimism. In combination with lifted restrictions in Sweden and many other countries, our ambition is to participate in several conferences important to the industry, some already in the spring, to effectively market AcouSort's disruptive separation technologies to the life-science industry.
Significant events during the fourth quarter
• On October 5 AcouSort launches a new project with Instrumentation Laboratory (IL). The project is the company’s seventh joint project together with IL.
• On October 11 AcouSort launches AcouWash 2, the new version of its cell washing and separation system.
• On October 15 AcouSort announces that the company’s rights issue of units has been completed. The issue was subscribed at 131.3 percent and AcouSort will receive SEK 39.6 million before issue costs. The issue contained free warrants, which, when fully exercised, will provide the company with an additional SEK 15.7 million.
• On October 27 AcouSort receives an additional order for an AcouTrap system from an existing South Korean customer within the Life Science sector.
• On November 2 AcouSort launches its first OEM product AcouPlasmaOptical, offering a unique solution that enables integrated optical measurements of blood plasma in diagnostic and analytic instruments.
• On November 18 AcouSort announces that the company is taking the next step in its collaboration with a Californian company, where AcouSort’s trapping module will be used as an add-on consumable adding a feature to the partner’s system product.
Significant events after the end of the period
• On January 14 AcouSort announces that its cooperation agreement with a major Japanese industrial player regarding the leasing of a new AcouWash 2 system and continuing the ongoing application support has been extended.
• On February 18 AcouSort announces that the US patent authorities, USPTO, have issued a Notice of Allowance for one of AcouSort’s patent applications. The patent covers how to design and drive acoustofluidic devices made in plastic. The invention was originally acquired from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2018.
This information is such information that Acousort AB (publ) is obliged to publish in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted, through the agency of the contact person below, for publication on February 24, 2022 at 08.30 CET.
For further information on AcouSort, please contact:
Torsten Freltoft, CEO
Telephone: +45 2045 0854
E-mail: torsten.freltoft@acousort.com
About AcouSort
AcouSort AB (corporate registration number 556824-1037) is an innovative technology company focusing on developing products and solutions for integrated preparation of biological samples. With the help of sound waves, the company's products can separate blood cells, concentrate, purify and stain cells, exosomes and bacteria from biological samples. The technology of the company's products is acoustofluidics, where sound waves and microfluidics enable automated handling of samples in a range of application areas, from research on new biomarkers to the development of new diagnostic systems for near-patient testing – so-called Point-of Care (POC) systems. The company's commercialization strategy is based on the already proven business model of providing separation modules to diagnostic system manufacturers for integrated sample preparation as well as to continue the commercialization of the company's research instruments. With the help of the company's products and development of point-of-care tests, new diagnostic systems and treatments are enabled, addressing some of the most challenging disease areas of our time: cancer, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases. AcouSort is listed at Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The company’s Certified Adviser is Erik Penser Bank, 08-463 83 00, certfiedadviser@penser.se. Erik Penser Bank AB (publ), Apelbergsgatan 27, Box 7405, 103 91 Stockholm.