This announcement contains inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR)
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc
("EKF", the "Company" or the "Group")
Trading update
Full year performance expected to be comfortably ahead of upgraded market consensus
Q1 2021 performance to materially exceed management expectations
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (AIM: EKF), the AIM listed point-of-care business, confirms that continued strong trading will result in the performance for the year ending 31 December 2020 being comfortably ahead of already upgraded market expectations.
Trading in the core business in the final quarter has continued to improve significantly and ongoing demand for the PrimeStore MTM COVID-19 sample collection device remained strong through to the end of the year and will continue to do so into the first quarter of 2021. Following the payment of the dividend of £4.6m in December 2020, the earlier investment of £3.8m in Trellus Health Limited, and the proceeds from the sale of Renalytix AI plc shares of £7.7m, the Company's net cash at 31 December 2020 was in excess of £21m. The Company will pay a dividend again in December 2021 and expects to implement a progressive dividend policy.
With continued strong performance in the core business and a number of indicative orders for PrimeStore MTM for the first quarter 2021 that are likely to be realised, the Board is confident that performance for the first quarter of 2021 will be materially ahead of current management expectations, and the first quarter of 2020.
The persons responsible for arranging the release of this Announcement on behalf of the Company are Julian Baines, CEO, and Richard Evans, FD and COO respectively.
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EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc |
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Christopher Mills, Non-executive Chairman |
Tel: +44 (0) 29 2071 0570 |
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Julian Baines, CEO |
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Richard Evans, FD & COO |
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N+1 Singer |
Tel: 020 7496 3000 |
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Aubrey Powell / George Tzimas (Corporate Finance) |
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Walbrook PR Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7933 8780 or ekf@walbrookpr.com |
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Paul McManus / Lianne Cawthorne |
Mob: +44 (0) 7980 541 893 / +44 (0) 7584 391 303 |
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About EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (www.ekfdiagnostics.com)
EKF is a leading point-of-care diagnostics and central laboratory assay manufacturer with an estimated 80,000 hemoglobin, hematocrit, HbA1c, glucose and lactate analyzers in regular use across more than 100 countries. EKF specializes in developing tests for use in anemia and diabetes diagnosis and management, as well as providing a portfolio of reagents for use in clinical chemistry analyzers.
About PrimeStore MTM
Global demand for the PrimeStore MTM sample containment device has increased significantly due to COVID-19. The device was invented in 2006 in preparation for a worldwide pandemic and is designed to de-activate pathogen rapidly and stabilise the RNA for up to four weeks with no requirement for cold storage. This approach also allows samples to be tested by a greater number of laboratories, as the handling risks for the deactivated virus are reduced.