Cellectis announces first-half 2013 financial results

Paris, September 26, 2013 - Cellectis (Alternext: ALCLS), the global genome engineering specialist, today announced the publication of its consolidated financial statements for the six-month period ended June 30, 2013, approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on September 23.

 

Continuing reorganization around three business lines 

Major therapeutic advances exemplifying the Group’s unique expertise 

 

First-half 2013 financial results 

 These results feature: 

-    a slight drop in revenue compared to the first six months of 2012 ; 

-    a one-time increase in expenses, mainly due to patent defense costs, which were particularly high during the period, as well as the launch of the Scéil™ offer; 

-    an improved use of cash made possible by a reduction in working capital requirement. 

• Total operating revenue was €6.9m

• Operating loss came to €16.5m

• As of June 30, 2013, the Group’s net cash was €9.5m

• Equity amounted to €43.2 million

 

Key highlights of the first nine months of 2013 

• Cellectis continued to reorganize its activities around three business lines:

-      Tools & Services, specializing in research and production

-      Plants, which develops agronomic traits for proprietary purposes and partnerships

-      Therapeutics, focusing in particular on adoptive immunotherapies (leukemia) and regenerative medicine (diabetes)

• Tools & Services launched a series of new offerings:

-    the CanCELL range of cell lines to meet the needs of the oncology research community and facilitate the discovery of new drugs;

-    the VizuCELL range of cell lines for cellular imaging;

-    and, just a few days ago, the Compact TALEN™ range of next-generation TAL effector nucleases for efficient transfection and genome editing in sensitive cells.

• Plants made breakthroughs including genetically engineering specific species producing oils with a high added value.

• Therapeutics reached a key milestone for one of its flagship products, UCART19, by establishing in‑vivo proof of concept for the product’s efficacy in treating leukemia.

• The Group also consolidated its intellectual property, obtaining three new patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for TAL effector nucleases.

• The last key highlight of the period was the launch of Scéil™, which leverages the Group’s skills and expertise to offer a cell banking service whereby individuals can store their genetic material in the form of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines.

 

Outlook

Cellectis anticipates that its use of cash, which was high in the first half of 2013, will decline very significantly by the end of the year.

Nonetheless, in order to ensure adequate financing to meet the Group’s needs over the coming months, Cellectis expects to improve its cash flow from operations (sales growth, lower expenses) and is considering disposing of some non-strategic patents or other assets, and/or raising capital, potentially via the contingent equity line with Kepler Capital Markets.

“Our promising results in genome engineering and adoptive immunotherapy underscore our unique expertise in therapeutics,” said André Choulika, Chairman and CEO of Cellectis. “In order to take advantage of the biopharmaceutical industry’s strong potential, particularly in oncology, we have accelerated the development of our Therapeutics division.”