Pacific Biometrics Inc. Reports FY2008 Operating Results
Revenues Strengthen in Second Half of Fiscal Year
Seattle, Washington, September 29, 2008 - Pacific Biometrics, Inc. (OTCBB: PBME), a leading provider of specialty central laboratory and contract research services, today released its financial results for FY2008.
Revenues for the year ended June 30, 2008 decreased approximately 3% to $8,265,237, compared with $8,480,330 in the previous fiscal year. The Company posted an operating loss of $566,026 in FY2008, versus an operating loss of $564,763 in FY2007. The net loss for FY2008 was reduced by 53% to $571,429, or $0.03 per fully diluted share, compared with a net loss of $1,213,090, or $0.06 per fully diluted share, in FY2007.
“While full-year revenues for Fiscal 2008 were comparable to revenues in Fiscal 2007, the second half of the 2008 fiscal year was notably stronger than the first six months,” commented Ron Helm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Biometrics, Inc. "We experienced continued softness in the central lab market during the first half of the fiscal year, which was also impacted by residual fall-out in the cholesterol drug market following the discontinuation of Pfizer’s Torcetrapib in December 2006 and equivocal news more recently involving Merck’s Vytorin drug. Incoming orders and backlog strengthened in the final two quarters of Fiscal 2008, and we also started to recognize revenues from our new clinical biomarker services.
”We believe a number of positive developments during Fiscal 2008 will have a strong impact on the Company going forward,” continued Helm. “First, we substantially reduced our debt by paying down a large portion of our Laurus convertible note, thereby significantly improving our balance sheet. We expect to fully retire the Laurus debt by January 31, 2009. Second, the Company continued to diversify its client base, adding seven new clients during Fiscal 2008 and increasing the number of active contracts to 106 at June 30,2008, versus 100 active contracts at June 30, 2007. As a result, our largest client represented only 14% of total revenues in Fiscal 2008, compared with 17% in the previous fiscal year, while revenues from our five largest clients accounted for 56% of the total, versus 65% in Fiscal 2007. Third, we noted a significant recovery in third and fourth quarter revenues, when compared with prior-year quarters, reflecting the activation of several large contracts in our backlog with substantial revenue-generating potential. Due to contract scheduling, we do not expect revenues from these new contracts to meaningfully benefit the first quarter of our current fiscal year, but the impact upon future quarters in Fiscal 2009 should be significant. Fourth, as previously disclosed, we incorporated our new wholly-owned Pacific Biomarkers subsidiary in February 2008, in order to focus on biomarker assay development and testing services, the fastest-growing segment of the clinical drug-development services market. Through this new subsidiary, we believe we are well-positioned to leverage our scientific expertise and capture an important share of this market.
“We believe PBI’s financial performance will improve in Fiscal 2009, despite the vagaries in the clinical trials testing market. Over the past several quarters, we have announced large clinical study contracts with some of the biggest pharmaceutical and biotech companies in the world, which have substantially added to our backlog. These contracts involve our core areas of technological expertise, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, and arthritis. Further, with our entry into biomarker services, we have added a growth driver to our business model in a market segment where demand is strong and there are presently no dominant players.”
For additional information, see Pacific Biometrics' annual report filed with the SEC on Form 10‑K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008.
About Pacific Biometrics, Inc. (PBI)
Established in 1989, PBI provides specialized central laboratory and contract research services to support pharmaceutical and diagnostic manufacturers conducting human clinical trial research. The Company provides expert services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and nutrition. The PBI laboratory is accredited by the College of American Pathologists, New York State, and the Lipid Standardization Program. PBI's clients include many of the world's largest pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic companies.
Pacific Biomarkers, Inc., incorporated February 1, 2008 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of PBI, focuses specifically on the emerging field of biomarker assay development and testing. Services include validating and performing ligand-binding assays for novel clinical biomarkers, immunogenicity testing, and multiplex testing.
PBI is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and its common stock trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “PBME”. For more information about PBI, visit the company's web site at www.pacbio.com.
Contact:
Pacific Biometrics, Inc.
Ron Helm, Chairman and CEO
(206) 298-0068
or
R. Jerry Falkner CFA
RJ Falkner & Company, Inc.
Investor Relations Counsel
(800) 377-9893
email at info@rjfalkner.com
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release includes forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, the growth in revenues and backlog that may result from established and new services, our strategic planning and business development plans, impacts on our financial results, our future growth, and the viability and acceptance of our products and services in the market. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, our ability to bid on and win laboratory services contracts, the success of our marketing and business development efforts, competition in the industry, and our ability to manage growth, as well as the risks and other factors set forth in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 10-KSB for the year ended June 30, 2007 and our Form 10-QSB for the quarters ended September 30, 2007, December 31, 2007, and March 31, 2008).
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