SourceBio International plc
(“SourceBio”, the ”Company” or ”the Group”)
Statement re Changes to COVID-19 Travel Testing
SourceBio International plc (AIM: SBI), a leading international provider of integrated state-of-the-art laboratory services and products, notes the announcement made on Friday, 17 September 2021, by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, regarding planned changes to England’s international travel rules and COVID-19 testing requirements.
The Group’s COVID-19 RT PCR testing throughput has progressively increased since the first half of the year, with average daily testing volumes in July approaching 7,000 which is more than double the rate in the first half, average testing in August exceeding 10,000 per day and average testing in September to date at approximately 14,000 per day.
A significant proportion of the Group’s PCR testing volumes and revenues are currently derived from Day 2, Day 8 and “Fit to Fly” testing. Day 2 and Day 8 testing will be removed under the new travel rules from the end of October for fully vaccinated individuals and low-risk countries. The requirements surrounding PCR testing for out-bound travel, the “Fit to Fly” scheme, and D2 and D8 from red list countries do not appear to be impacted and the Board expects that these newly announced changes to international travel will likely encourage more people to travel abroad from the UK, and that this should contribute to a rise in “Fit to Fly” out-bound testing volumes.
The Group anticipates that a material proportion of travel related demand will switch from PCR technology to lateral flow technology. SourceBio has evaluated a number of lateral flow technologies and has signed two commercial distribution agreements for the ongoing supply of lateral flow tests. The first agreement is with Excalibur Healthcare Services Limited for the supply of their new Lateral Flow Test, the Excalibur Rapid SARS-COV-2 Antigen Test. This test kit is approved for professional use in Europe and the UK, and has demonstrated close to 100% specificity and 100% sensitivity for high viral loads (equivalent to positive PCR values below Ct=28). The Excalibur test kit may also be combined with a “Test to go” scanning app and Travel Pack that has been proven to provide a more accurate reading of results than the human eye. The second agreement is with Everything Genetic Limited which also offers a home use option for lateral flow antigen testing.
The Board continues to respond to a fast-moving COVID-19 testing market place in order to maximise business potential. As announced in July, first half revenues more than tripled to £37m compared to prior year, with approximately 75% of these revenues derived from COVID-19 testing. Adjusted EBITDA of £11.2m was significantly above the £1.7m recorded in the first half of the prior year. Full year revenues and adjusted EBITDA are still expected to show dramatic growth compared to the previous year, however the changes to travel PCR testing are expected to impact on the level of this expected material growth. The Company is evaluating the full year 2021 and 2022 and will provide a full trading update as part of its Interim Results Statement which is scheduled to be released on 28 September 2021.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Contacts:
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Source International plc |
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| Jay LeCoque, Executive Chairman |
Via Walbrook PR |
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| Tony Ratcliffe, Chief Financial Officer | ||
| Liberum (Nominated Adviser and Broker) |
Tel: 020 3100 2000 |
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| Bidhi Bhoma / Richard Lindley / Euan Brown | ||
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Walbrook PR Limited |
Tel: 020 7933 8780 or sourcebio@walbrookpr.com |
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| Paul McManus / Sam Allen |
Mob: 07980 541 893 / 07502 558 258 |
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About SourceBio International plc www.sourcebiointernational.com
SourceBio is a leading international provider of integrated state-of-the-art laboratory services and products with clients in the healthcare, clinical, life science research and biopharma industries, with a focus on improving patient diagnosis, management and care. Group revenues are derived from four core businesses areas:
- Infectious Disease Testing – a range of COVID-19 testing services for commercial enterprises, private healthcare groups, NHS and the DHSC. Utilising multiple technologies, SourceBio offers screening, gold standard RT-PCR and whole genome sequencing COVID-19 testing solutions and operates under ISO 15189 accreditation required by the DHSC. SourceBio also provides employee testing solutions to industry, and direct to consumer home test kits (including ”Fit to Fly”, ”Test to Release” and ”2 & 8 Day International Travel” approved tests).
- Healthcare Diagnostics – histopathology cancer screening and clinical diagnostic services for the NHS and private healthcare across the UK and Ireland.
- Genomics – DNA sequencing services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academia, contract research organisations (CROs) and other research groups in the UK, Europe and North America.
- Stability Storage – shelf-life testing services and equipment for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract manufacturers and analytical testing companies from around the world but primarily in the UK, Ireland and the USA.
More details on Group operations can be found here: www.sourcebioscience.com.
SourceBio International plc (SBI) is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
