Truscreen reports 523% sales growth for first half year

• Sales for the six months ending 30 September 2018 tops NZD $1,406,932 (unaudited)
• 522.8% increase on the corresponding period last year (NZD $225,896)
• Gross margin increasing as in-house manufacturing lowers unit costs

Cervical cancer screening company, TruScreen Limited (NZAX: TRU) is reporting significant commercial progress for the second quarter of its financial year, with a number of major events driving adoption of the TruScreen technology.

CEO, Martin Dillon, said: “Sales of both devices and the disposal Single Use Sensors are tracking well ahead of last year, with ongoing demand from China and other markets. We have a number of growth initiatives in place and the recent $3 million capital raising, which was well supported by new and existing shareholders, is providing a platform to support growth initiatives.”

China remains the primary market for TruScreen with growing demand and a number of initiatives underway.

• TruScreen’s devices have been selected as the primary screening tool for up to 50 planned women’s health clinics and TruScreen has now been installed in the first eight of these.
• A large scale evaluation with The Women’s and Children’s Division of the Centre for Disease Control has commenced and is expected to be completed by the end of the 2019 financial year. This involves a minimum of 12,000 women across eight provinces and 16 hospitals in China, with 1,500 patients already screened.
• Lastly, the company has announced a major programme in Xinjiang Province, which will see TruScreen installed in 190 hospitals.

In Africa, an initial sale of approximately NZ$450,000 has been supplied to the National Aids Council (NAC) of Zimbabwe which is supporting the use of TruScreen as the preferred screening method for cervical cancer of HIV affected women. African countries represent a major untapped market opportunity for the company, as many have little or no laboratory infrastructure or existing screening programmes or methods. TruScreen’s portability and real time diagnosis means it is perfectly suited for countries throughout the African continent.

The company’s new enhanced manufacturing facility, commissioned in June this year, is now fully operational and delivering significant improvements in output and unit cost reduction. The facility produces the key technical diagnostic (front end) component of the Truscreen2 device and involves unique and sophisticated opto-electric and biomedical engineering skills and techniques.

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