Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc (LON:COG), which develops and markets digital solutions to assess brain health, has announced a positive trading update for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Unaudited highlights for the year ended 31 December 2021
· Growth in revenues of 50% to £10.1 million (2020: £6.7 million)
· Increase in contracted order backlog of 51% to £17.0 million (31 December 2020: £11.2 million)
· Profit after tax for the year of £0.5 million (2020: £0.4 million loss)
· Cash balance of £6.8 million at 31 December 2021 (31 December 2020: £3.0 million)
The Company made excellent progress in 2021, delivering strong growth in orders and revenues, together with moving into profitability with earnings ahead of market expectations. Order intake for the year closed at £15.7 million, up 25% on the previous year’s order intake of £12.7 million. Order growth continued to be driven by commercial execution, a broader product offering and demand for virtual clinical trials. The contracted order book at the end of 2021 was £17.0 million (£11.2 million at 31 December 2020) of which at least £7.5 million is expected to be recognised as revenue in 2022, subject to customer delivery schedules.
The pandemic has provided a catalyst for the growth in adoption of virtual clinical trials as pharmaceutical companies shift to measuring patients at home more1, which has been of benefit to the Company, but this has been offset to a certain extent by some delays to trials2, mostly due to more cautious, slower patient recruitment. These trends are expected to continue in 2022.
The underlying market for the measurement of electronic outcomes in clinical trials was reported to be growing at 17%3 in 2021. The Company results were ahead of this underlying market growth. The 2021 performance provides a strong platform for further growth as the Company continues to develop and commercialise its innovative digital assessments, primarily for clinical trials.
Cambridge Cognition expects to announce its preliminary results in March 2022.
References.
1. McKinsey & Company. (2021). https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/no-place-like-home-stepping-up-the-decentralization-of-clinical-trials
2. John Z. Xue et al., “Clinical trial recovery from COVID-19 disruption,” Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, September 2020, Volume 19, pp. 662-3, nature.com. Monthly trial starts declined 50% from January 2020 to April 2020, and 60% of investigators reported a significant reduction in trial activities in May 2020.
3. GrandView Research 2018 eCOA Report indicates a CAGR of 17% 2018-20225
