Investors

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Caution regarding forward looking statements

Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'', ''could'', "should" ''envisage'', ''estimate'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''plan'', ''potentially'', "expect", ''will'' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.

Highlights

Financial

• Full year revenue of £1,523,247, a 104% increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019 (2019: £744,883)
• A 124% increase in gross profit from £392,803 (2019) to £879,819 (2020) as increased sales volumes enabled us to renegotiate contract terms with commercial partners and increase margins
• A 27% reduction in other administration costs expenses from £2,204,216 in 2019 to £1,616,069 in 2020
• The Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achieving profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period
• A substantial increase in the value of our holding in SkinBioTherapeutics plc (‘SBTX’) during the year with an investment of approximately £700,000 in 2016, for a 51% pre-IPO holding, delivering an asset now worth circa £25m as of June 2021
• A 49% reduction in operating loss from £2,166,638 in 2019 to £1,111,393 in 2020. The increase in the value of the SBTX holding during the year resulting in a Group net profit for the year of £5,801,866 (2019: net loss £2,368,362)
• Total cash on the balance sheet at the year-end increasing by 90% to £864,680 (2019: £456,608).  Post period, the Company sold £900,936 worth of SBTX shares in March 2021

Commercial

• Launch of three SlimBiome® products with Holland & Barrett (H&B) in H1 2020 followed by product line extension in 2021 to eight H&B own brand SlimExpert products
• The launch of a products containing OptiBiome® under the Optislim® brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm Pty Ltd's online store in Australia and New Zealand in October 2020.  The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe in addition to Australia, parts of Asia, New Zealand, Middle East, Gulf States and North America allowing potential for future sales growth
• The launch in Italy by ALFASIGMA S.p.A. of a food supplement containing our proprietary cholesterol reducing LP_LDL® probiotic strain, providing an entry into the largest and fastest growing probiotic market in Europe
• A non-exclusive distribution agreement with Actial Farmaceutica Srl for the distribution of CholBiome® and CholBiome®_X3 in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand, under the VSL^#3® range
• An exclusive agreement in late 2020 with a US company for the large-scale manufacture and commercialisation of a number of SweetBiotix® products in return for upfront, milestone, launch and royalty payments. We are pleased to see this partner making strong progress in 2021 scaling up these innovative products to industrial scale

Regulatory and Scientific

• USA FDA authorisation of an Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) trial by our partner Seed Health of a probiotic containing LP_LDL®, to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome 
• Completion of two new human studies by ProBiotix Health on LP_LDL®. The first in partnership with Nutrilinea S.r.l., demonstrating that a new food supplement formulation containing can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). The second, a placebo-controlled human studies on LP_LDL® in high cholesterol patients showing LP_LDL® when used alone can achieve similar reductions in total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) to statins, without side effects (submitted for publication)
• The Company has made significant progress in H1 2021 with its microbiome modulators with early data suggesting we have developed an approach to facilitate industrial scale production

 Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.  This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019. This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9% decline in growth. The Company has also benefited from an increase in the value of OptiBiotix’s holding in SBTX which is making strong progress on its path to commercialising products.

“The Company is now in a position of having established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LP_LDL® and SlimBiome®) with a network of internationally recognised partners who are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.   We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories.  Our focus remains on growing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the USA, and China, and commercialising our pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second-generation products, the Company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

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