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SourceBio signs COVID-19 testing agreement with UK high street group

07:24, 11th January 2021
Francesca Morgan
RNS Newswire
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SourceBio International (“SourceBio”) (SBI FOLLOW) said it has entered into a supply agreement to provide ‘state of the art’ products and laboratory services to the unnamed high street retail and pharmacy group.

Under the initial 12-month agreement, the company said it will also offer COVID-19 PCR Testing services from its ISO15189 accredited laboratory facility in Nottingham, England.

The service is being trialled initially across a limited number of clinically approved high street sites with the goal to offer larger-scale COVID-19 diagnostic testing across many more UK stores should it prove successful.

SourceBio currently provides COVID-19 testing services to the NHS, the Department of Health & Social Care and private healthcare customers. 

Jay LeCoque, Executive Chairman of SourceBio International, said, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with a major UK high street name to support the roll-out of testing service for their customers across the UK using our ISO 15189 accredited laboratories.”

He added that, “Accurate diagnostic testing is needed more than ever given the new surge in COVID-19 infections in the UK and increasing evidence that many more people may have COVID-19 without showing symptoms than has previously been thought.”

SourceBio believes the provision of “highly accurate, gold standard, fit to fly, and test to release test results” made available on high streets will be highly sought after and provide “peace of mind” to those who still need to go about their daily lives and later travel abroad.

SourceBio was admitted to trading on AIM in October 2020 and raised funds on IPO to expand its testing capacity to meet the expected increase in demand for COVID-19 from additional commercial customers. Since IPO, Shares in SourceBio International have jumped 30% in value in the last month alone from a price of 170p to 222.5p.

SBI price chart

Reasons to Follow SourceBio

SourceBio International is an international provider of laboratory services to clients in the pharmaceutical industry, the NHS and to private healthcare providers. The Group is headquartered in Nottingham, with additional facilities in the UK, Ireland and the US.

The company saw a positive start on its first day of trading on AIM, adding around £8m to its initial £120m market capitalisation while the £35m raised at 162p is intended to be used by it to scale up COVID-19 testing capacity as well as paying off shareholder and bank loans.

“We are delighted by the strong support we’ve received from institutional investors. Our IPO on AIM allows us to significantly increase our COVID-19 testing capacity, accelerate earnings growth in our core business and execute on potential M&A opportunities,” said LeCoque.

He said at the time of the IPO: “It’s an exciting time for our business and we  look forward to executing on our ambitious growth plans and delivering value to our shareholders.” 

In November 2020, SourceBio unveiled that its funds from its IPO were enabling it to further scale its COVID-19 testing services to deliver against expected increases in future testing.

SourceBio expects to report total revenue of around £50m (FY19: £21.2m) and EBITDA of c.£14m (FY19: £3.0m) for the year ending 31 December 2020, with the vast majority of this increase in expected earnings driven by the contribution of COVID-19 testing revenues.

The group said in November 2020 that it had been accepted into the Increasing Capacity Framework Agreement for cancer testing services to NHS England, designed to reduce the significant backlog of elective surgeries impacting the NHS due to the pandemic which is expected to support the growth of the Healthcare Diagnostics business unit in 2021.

SourceBio has also entered into a strategic commercial partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited to offer a COVID-19 testing solution to corporate customers at scale via its own lab facilities.

For more news and updates on SourceBio International: FOLLOW

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The information, investment views and recommendations in this article are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engaging in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the writer but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. Vox Markets may receive payment from companies mentioned for enhanced profiling or publication presence. The writer may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.

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