Angel confident despite share fall on training costs

SHARES in Edinburgh-based Angel Biotechnology fell 5 per cent yesterday after the cost of training staff for a new manufacturing facility near Newcastle pushed the Aim-quoted life sciences firm back into the red.

The firm, which prepares stem cells and other products for clinical trials, slumped to a pre-tax loss of 241,000 in the six months to 30 June, compared with a profit of 106,000 in the first-half of the previous year.

But chief operating officer Gordon Sherriff told The Scotsman the loss had been in line with management's expectations and was partly due to contracts falling in the second- rather than the first-half of the year.

Sherriff said: "2010 was an exceptional year for us, resulting in a full-year profit. In 2011, we're working hard to get our new facility up and running but we need to train staff and that costs money up front."

Angel signed a deal in March to re-open the Cramlington facility, near Newcastle, and is currently fitting out the site. Sherriff said the work was on course to finish by the end of the year, with regulatory approval expected in the first-quarter of 2012.

The company had previously operated from the Cramlington site before moving to Edinburgh in 2007. But Sherriff yesterday heralded the group's commitment to keep its head office in Scotland, despite the much-larger manufacturing site south of the Border giving the company a five-fold increase in production.

"For a company like us, our key resource is our staff and, if we moved the business down south, I think we would lose a lot of people," Sherriff said.

His comments came as Angel posted a dip in first-half revenues to 1.4 million from 1.5m.

Last year, Angel posted its maiden profit after 11 years in business, reporting a surplus of 193,000 on the back of a doubling of turnover to 2.9m.

Joint house broker Matrix is forecasting a full-year loss of 109,000. Shares closed down 0.02p at 0.32p.