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Listed biological products maker ICP Biotechnology has raised its full-year profit forecast and says it will raise more money and hit the acquisition trail.
At its inaugural annual meeting yesterday, ICPbio lifted its full-year revenue forecast from $22.8 million to $25.7 million and increased projected trading profit from $5.4 million to $6.1 million. The new forecast took account of a change in financial year from the end of March to the end of June.
Managing director Earl Stevens said the firm expected strong cash flows, giving "us the capability to acquire companies in complementary fields and develop our own intellectual property and that of others".
The company was currently transforming a tonne of plasma, costing about $3000, into a range of protein products worth about $100,000.
By early next year, the firm planned to produce up to $250,000 worth of proteins from every tonne of plasma, with a new factory capable of processing more than 12 tonnes a week.
Chairman Roger Gower said more than 80 per cent of the company's roughly 4700 shareholders currently held fewer than 500 shares. A purchase plan would shortly be offered enabling shareholdings to be increased to marketable parcels, Gower said.
The company hoped to raise between $3 million and $4 million, with shareholders able to buy between $500 and $5000 worth of shares at a 10 per cent discount to the market.
Brent King, chairman of 17.5 per cent cornerstone shareholder Viking Capital, was elected to the ICPbio board.
