RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ThermoGenesis Corp. , a leading supplier of innovative products and services that process and store adult stem cells, today said that revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 more than doubled over the same period a year ago. Separately, the Company also announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with Celling Technologies for ThermoGenesis’ MarrowXpress(TM) (MXP(TM)) product line used for isolating stem cells from bone marrow.
Revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, were $7.2 million, a 104 percent increase over revenues of $3.5 million in the fourth quarter a year ago. Disposable revenues in the quarter were $4.2 million, nearly triple the $1.5 million in disposable revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
The Company reported a net loss of $2.5 million, or $0.04 per share, versus a net loss of $2.6 million, or $0.05 per share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. The results for both periods include stock-based compensation expense of $303,000 and $482,000, respectively.
The Company ended fiscal 2008 with $25.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Total backlog at the end of the fourth quarter was $2.3 million. This compares with $2.2 million in the same period a year ago.
“ThermoGenesis ended fiscal 2008 in very strong fashion with revenue growth in the quarter driven primarily by demand for our AXP(TM) AutoXpress Platform (AXP(TM)) disposable bagsets and our continued ability to improve manufacturing yields,” said Dr. William Osgood, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. “In addition, we benefited from an increase in sales of our BioArchive(R) System having sold a record nine units in the fourth fiscal quarter”.
“Our growth in revenues for the quarter,” he continued, “was offset at the bottom line by a $1.0 million dollar increase in Research and Development spending year-over-year related to our veterinary stem cell initiative and salary and stock compensation charges for the newly created position Chief Technology Architect. In addition, interest income declined $265,000 versus last year due to decreased cash balances and declining interest rates.”
Osgood noted that the Company has achieved several important milestones recently, including receiving a CE-Mark enabling commercial sales of its MarrowXpress(TM), or MXP(TM), in Europe, and authorization from the FDA to initiate commercial sales of the device in the U.S. The MXP is used for concentrating stem cells from bone marrow at both the point-of-care and in a laboratory setting.
“In addition, we have appointed more than a dozen new distributors for our BioArchive System following the restructuring of our agreement with GE Healthcare, giving us distributor relationships in nearly all of our key international markets. Many of these distributors previously sold one or more of our offerings-including the BioArchive-and have established relationships in their markets,” Osgood noted.
Osgood said the Company realized a number of key accomplishments in its growth strategy during fiscal 2008, including:
“Because of our accomplishments over the past year, ThermoGenesis is well positioned to achieve a ramp in growth and increase its presence in key areas of regenerative medicine. In addition to implementing programs that are designed to expand our cord blood business, we have a number of product and market development initiatives underway that we expect will begin to contribute initial revenues from new stem cell markets during the current fiscal year,” Osgood commented.
For all of fiscal 2008, ThermoGenesis reported revenues of $21.9 million, a 31 percent increase over revenues of $16.8 million in fiscal 2007. The Company reported a net loss of $9.2 million, or $0.16 per share, compared with a net loss of $6.8 million, or $0.12 per share, in fiscal 2007. The results for both periods include stock-based compensation expense of $1.9 million and $1.1 million, respectively.
With respect to fiscal 2009, management indicated that it expects overall revenue growth to be between 30-35 percent driven in large part by increased AXP disposable bagset sales as well as new revenues from MXP, the successful launch of Vantus services, and the launch of a new point-of-care stem cell product platform. Management also expects continued gross margin improvement during the year with fourth quarter gross margin anticipated to exceed 40 percent and that operating expenses will be relatively comparable with fiscal 2008. As a result, management expects to exit the fourth fiscal quarter at break even.
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About ThermoGenesis Corp.
ThermoGenesis Corp. (http://www.thermogenesis.com) is a leader in developing and manufacturing automated blood processing systems and disposable products that enable the manufacture, preservation and delivery of cell and tissue therapy products. These products include:
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CONTACT: Investor Relations of ThermoGenesis Corp., +1-916-858-5107,
ir@thermogenesis.com
Web site: http://www.thermogenesis.com/
