U.K. CRO Ergomed, which often shares the risks and rewards of R&D with its clients, grew its revenue by 14% in 2014, and the company hopes to ride a late-year boom into 2015.
The Guildford-headquartered outfit banked £22 million ($33.4 million) in revenue last year, up from £19.2 million ($29.2 million) in 2013. Ergomed inked £26.8 million ($40.1 million) worth of contracts in 2014, with nearly 60% of that figure coming in the second half, spurring optimism among management that the CRO is in for another leap in 2015. And Ergomed wrapped 2014 with a £60 million ($91.1 million) backlog, making the company "well placed to continue to grow and develop its strategy as outlined at its IPO in July," CEO Miroslav Reljanovic said in a statement.
Looking forward, Ergomed is on the verge of some major milestones with its four co-development partners, working through Phase III with Cel-Sci ($CVM), Synta Pharmaceuticals ($SNTA) and Aeterna Zentaris ($AEZS) while nearing Phase II with Ferrer.
"The advances achieved in our co-development pipeline are encouraging, and we are in active discussions with a number of co-development partners and expect to announce new partnerships in 2015," Reljanovic said. "We also continue to review potential strategic acquisition targets from the services sector as part of our global expansion."
Ergomed's shares jumped about 6.5% on the financial results.
Ergomed divides its business into two segments: a services unit that works like a traditional contractor, handling studies from early phases to post-marketing; and a co-development arm, which inks risk-sharing deals that trade development work for a share of future revenue on a product.
- read the statement