Source BioScience Achieves Double Digit Q1 Revenue Growth

16 May 2012 -- Source BioScience plc (LSE: SBS), the international diagnostics and genetic analysis business serving the healthcare and research markets today provides its Interim Management Statement relating to the period from 1 January 2012 to 16 May 2012.

Unless otherwise stated, the financial information referenced below refers to the three months ended 31 March 2012, and the corresponding period last year, this being the latest practicable date to which financial information has been prepared.

Overall business performance

The first quarter of 2012 has been another period of sustained growth and development for Source BioScience with double digit increase in revenue compared with the same period last year. This performance has been underpinned by significant progression of LifeSciences’ DNA sequencing services and Healthcare’s cervical cancer screening business. Overall performance for the year to date is in line with management’s expectations, representing a continuation of the strong business performance achieved last year. The Group remains in a robust financial position with £1.7 million of cash at the end of March 2012 (31 December 2011: £1.1 million).

LifeSciences division

The launch of the Overnight Service for DNA sequencing during 2011 was a key initiative for the LifeSciences division. Following the roll out of the Overnight Service across our laboratory network, sequencing volumes during the second half of 2011 were 40% higher than for the first half. This growth has continued into 2012 and activity in Q1 2012 has been 60% greater compared with Q1 2011.

Our ambition is to become Europe’s leading commercial provider of DNA sequencing service and our Overnight Service is instrumental in achieving this aim. Since its launch, our market share in the UK has increased significantly and we are now the only company offering a UK-based sequencing service.

GenomeCube®, our proprietary search engine and bioinformatics tool, continues to deliver increasing commercial advantage. Website traffic increased by more than 90% and internet orders by more than 50% compared with the same period last year. We see this as a significant driver for the business going forward.

Further functionality has been developed for GenomeCube® which has enabled us to appoint our first franchise distributor for the genomic products portfolio. In May, we announced the launch of the first country-specific GenomeCube® which is now available to the important Japanese research community through KK DNAForm, our local franchise distributor in Japan. This represents the start of Phase III of our e-commerce solution for LifeSciences products and will accelerate the globalisation of our products business.

Healthcare division

Demand for our liquid based cytology (‘LBC’) offering, which underpins approximately 50% of the cervical cancer screening programme in England and Wales, was exceptionally strong during the period. This was, in part, due to the scheduled three year recall of women who underwent smear tests in early 2009. This was a period when significantly more women sought testing under the screening programme following the death of Jade Goody from cervical cancer. During the period, we have also been driving the implementation of our BD FocalPoint™ automated imaging solution for cervical cancer screening. Access to FocalPoint™ was the determining factor in winning the LBC supply contract for the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, worth £0.3 million per annum. This was a significant win for the Group and particularly notable as it represented the first time that an NHS Trust has switched LBC technology provider. Molecular diagnostic testing continues to gain traction within the NHS and especially gene-based companion diagnostic testing. Companion diagnostic testing provides information about how a patient might respond to a particular drug therapy. One of the most widely utilised tests is the K-RAS gene test for colorectal cancer and demand in the period was up more than 100% compared with the same period last year.

Shareholding update

During May a significant volume of our share capital has been traded. As previously announced, a number of our existing institutional shareholders have increased their holdings and, in addition, several new institutions have become shareholders which is consistent with the ongoing strategy to broaden the shareholder base.

Conclusion

Although still early in the year, we have made a very encouraging start. We believe this period’s performance reflects the substantial opportunities we see for growth and development across both our LifeSciences and Healthcare divisions.

For further information, please contact:

Source BioScience plc

Dr Nick Ash, CEO

Tel: +44 (0) 115 973 9010

Email: enquiries@sourcebioscience.com

www.sourcebioscience.com

College Hill (PR Agency to Source BioScience)

Melanie Toyne-Sewell/Jayne Crook

Tel: +44 (0)207 457 2020

Email: sourcebioscience@collegehill.com

About Source BioScience:

Source BioScience plc (LSE: SBS) is an international diagnostics and genetic analysis business serving the healthcare and research markets. The LifeSciences division provides core laboratory research support from conceptualisation to implementation, calling upon a wide range of cutting-edge technology platforms including an online catalogue of biomolecular tools. The Company is a trusted provider of a complete range of sophisticated microarray, next generation and conventional sequencing services. GLP, GCP and CPA accreditations make the sequencing offerings also very attractive for applications in regulatory studies or clinical settings. Its Healthcare operations provide screening and reference laboratory diagnostic testing for cancer and other diseases and additional predictive testing for treatment optimisation for clinicians and patients. The Group has its headquarters in Nottingham, UK. Further information about Source BioScience can be found at www.sourcebioscience.com

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