Omega Diagnostics – Trading Update

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Omega (AIM: ODX), the medical diagnostics company focused on allergy, food intolerance and infectious disease, announces that results for the year to 31 March 2014 will be in line with market expectations. Revenues for the year are expected to show a small increase on 2013 and adjusted profit before tax (before acquisition costs, share based payments, IFRS-related discount unwinds and amortisation of intangible assets) will be significantly higher than that achieved in the prior year and is anticipated to be approximately £1.10m. 

Current trading performance

Infectious Disease – Visitect® CD4 update

Further to the completion of the technology transfer announced in February 2014, Visitect CD4 tests have been supplied for initial field validation studies to evaluate performance in India and Kenya.  To date, over 60 patient samples have been run in India and a 200-patient sample evaluation has just been run in Kenya. The latter Kenyan study also included evaluation of the Visitect CD4 mHealth App Smartphone Reader. Initial feedback from healthcare operators in the field confirms that the evaluations are progressing well to date.

A full data analysis of the study results will be undertaken in each case, where the results for Visitect® CD4 will be compared with standard flow cytometry results for the same patient samples.  The success of these initial studies will lead to a roll-out of validation studies into other countries.

In parallel with these trial activities, claim support studies have commenced in the UK to support the regulatory requirements in connection with CE-Marking the test.

Both these programmes remain on track with management’s expectation and a further update on progress will be provided in due course.

Allergy Development – IDS-iSYS update

Progress has continued on a 40-panel allergy menu to be launched on the IDS-iSYS instrument.  Since the last update, the Company confirms that the cumulative number of allergens through claim support has risen to eight.  A further 14 allergens have completed optimisation, five of which are part-way through claim support and a further 11 allergens are undergoing optimisation.  The Board believes that continued progress with its development programme is a cause for increased confidence in terms of commercialisation.

Outlook and Notice of Results

Trading in the second half of the year has been stronger than in the first half and has enabled the Group to meet market expectation from the core business prior to a contribution from Visitect® CD4. The performance of the Food Intolerance division has mitigated challenges in other parts of the business and prospects for this division remain encouraging for the new financial year.

The Company continues to strengthen its relationships with key aid and procurement agencies and continues to develop a strong marketing presence in the HIV/AIDS Global Health arena.  The Board remains very confident that Visitect® CD4 will deliver significant shareholder value.

Omega will announce its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2014 on Monday 23 June 2014.

Commenting on the trading update, Andrew Shepherd, Chief Executive, said:“We are pleased with the overall performance of our core business leading to increased profitability significantly ahead of the growth in revenue. Food Intolerance in particular performed strongly in the second half of the year.  Visitect® CD4 tests are currently undergoing initial field validation studies in India and Kenya and early feedback confirms things have progressed well to date.  In addition, our allergy programme with the IDS-iSYS instrument has continued to progress with more allergens completing the optimisation and claim support phases since the last update in February.”