23rd May 2022

Year of “Strong Progress” At Creo Medical Group

The chief executive of Chepstow-based Creo Medical Group has said the company is “well-positioned” to continue its commercial growth after reporting a “year of strong progress”.

In its final results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021 the company, which is focused on the field of surgical endoscopy, reported an increase in revenue from £9.4m to £25.1m.

Pre-tax losses widened from £23.4m to £30.3m, with an operating loss of £29.9m, including £2.6m of share-based payments, which the report said was in-line with management expectations.

Creo said the loss increase reflected the rising operating expenses in relation to clinical and development activities, as well as further investment in headcount and business infrastructure to “continue to develop and commercialise its technology”.

During the period, investments included completing the purchase of the freehold of Creo House and the adjacent building for £4.25m, as well as opening a US office in Connecticut and an established APAC Hub based in Singapore.

R&D expenditure was also up from £10.2m to £12.9m.

In November 2021, the company added to its supply chain and R&D capabilities through the acquisition of Aber Electronics.

Elsewhere, Creo said that Albyn Medical and Boucart Medical are now fully integrated into the group and are operating in line with expectations.

Chief executive Craig Gulliford hailed the group’s “year of strong progress” as the company continues to implement its build, buy and partner strategy.

He added: “We doubled our pipeline of clinicians who are to be trained under our clinical education programme, with a significant proportion of those trained during the year now being product users.

“Our US office opening, as well as the purchase of the freehold of Creo House, and the post-period end opening of our Singapore regional hub, have all been key steps for the group’s commercial growth and the increased education of clinicians across our target markets.

“Our acquisition of Aber Electronics during 2021 has added specialist expertise to our team whilst enhancing a key element of our supply chain. Our prior acquisitions of Albyn Medical and Boucart Medical have proved to be successful, with both having expanded our commercial footprint across Europe, and are now fully integrated within the group.

“We have signed non-binding heads of terms with a number of carefully selected partners, in order to leverage our core Kamaptive technology in therapeutic areas that the group is not already operating.

“Looking ahead we remain well-positioned to continue our commercial growth and will continue to evaluate further potential strategic acquisitions. We expect that as restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to ease throughout 2022, we will see increased rates of clinical education and increased rates of use of our technology in elective cases.”