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EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (AIM: EKF), the AIM quoted point-of-care business, announces its final results for the year ended 31 December 2020. 

 Financial Highlights 

• Revenue up 45% to £65.3m (2019: £44.9m) 
• Gross profit up 58% to £37.4m (2019: £23.7m) 
• Adjusted EBITDA1 up 113% to £25.5m (2019: £12.0m) 
• Profit before tax £15.4m (2019: £5.5m) 
• Basic Earnings per share of 2.45p (2019: 0.81p) 
• Cash generated from operations of £13.8m (2019: £5.1m) 
• Cash at 31 December 2020 of £21.9m (2019: £12.1m), net cash after borrowings of £21.4m (2019: £11.4m) 
• Value of investments in marketable securities at year end of £6.5m, after sale of Renalytix shares raised £7.7m (2019: £9.7m) 
• Maiden cash dividend of £4.5m paid to shareholders, equivalent to 1p per ordinary share 

Operational Highlights 

• Significant improvements in revenue and profits, resulting from successful COVID-19 related contract manufacturing business 
• Core business held up well in light of the global pandemic: revenues were down £6.5m YoY (-14%), however there were strong performances and signs of a steady recovery are apparent: 
  • DiaSpect Tm up £548k (+15%), due to strong performance from OEM partners McKesson and Fresenius Kabi 
  • Quo-Lab up £210k (+9%) due to improved sales in EMEA and improved shelf-life of reagent cartridges 
  • Hemo Control and HemoPointH2 sales down £2.6m (-36%) as anaemia screening programmes were paused or cancelled, particularly Peru (-£1.1m), and reduced demand from Women & Infants Clinics in US 
  • b-HB down £847k (-9%) due in part to the fulfilment of large orders from Cardinal in Q4 2019 
  • Reduced demand for diabetes testing, especially in China and Southeast Asia 
  • COVID-19 restrictions in laboratories, universities and organized sport impacted research use market for lactate and clinical chemistry product 
• Post period end, recovery of core business underway in Q1 2021: 
  • Fresenius Kabi up +20% YoY following tender wins in Asia and the Middle East 
  • Tender win in Rwanda c. 200k tests; screening programmes in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya and Egypt 
  • First shipment of 1,000 DiaSpect Tm analysers to South Africa following tender win 
  • CBER2 approval of DiaSpect Tm allows EKF to start selling into US blood banks from March 2021 
  • Won South Carolina WIC tender, displacing HemoCue; other WIC tender opportunities expected 
  • New pregnancy testing accounts won following exit of major competitor from the US market 
  • Won Jharkhand (India) tender (3 million DiaSpect Tm cuvettes); additional tenders in the pipeline 

1 Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, share-based payments and exceptional items, as laid out in the income statement 

2 Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research, part of the US FDA, which (amongst other things) regulates medical devices involved in the testing of licensed blood, blood components and cellular products 

3 Women, Infants and Children 

Trading update & Significant expansion of COVID-19 sample collection kit supply agreement 

This morning EKF also announced the signing of a new multi-million dollar global supply contract with its partner from the private sector. The new multiyear global supply contract will support its partner’s world-wide staff testing initiative, with orders to be fulfilled from EKF’s production sites in the UK, Germany and the United States. 

This expanded global contract is expected to make a considerable contribution throughout the current financial year. The Board is confident that trading for the year ending 31 December 2021 will be significantly ahead of already upgraded management expectations. 

Christopher Mills, Non-Executive Chairman of EKF, commented: 

“EKF has come through 2020 in an extremely strong position. The Group has been able to make a real contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which sadly has been very costly for many in lives and income. In doing so, EKF has delivered on every level and our core business has held up well. 

“The improvement in trading in our core business and the strong demand for COVID-19 sample collection devices has continued into the new financial year. Whilst necessarily maintaining a conservative approach to forecasting for our core business, we have already announced that our performance for the first quarter of 2021 will be materially ahead of expectations and the same quarter last year. This morning’s news that we have expanded a key supply agreement to become a multi-million dollar global supply contract, means that we are confident that trading for the year ending 31 December 2021 will be significantly ahead of already upgraded expectations.” 

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About EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc

EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc specialises in the development, production and worldwide distribution of point-of-care analyzers and clinical chemistry reagents for use in hospital and research laboratories, doctor’s offices, blood banks and for in-field anaemia screening programmes. EKF is also a bulk manufacturer of enzymes and has custom manufacturing facilities in the USA for a variety of life science products.  

In 2020, EKF developed a range of COVID-19 testing products including PrimeStore MTM, an FDA-approved and CE marked sample containment device that allows the safe handling, transportation and analysis of test swabs and samples, which it manufactures under licence, and COVID-SeroKlir, a leading ELISA-based antibody test from Kantaro Biosciences that provides a precise measurement of COVID-19 IgG antibodies.