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Aptilon Announces Fiscal 2007 Year End Financial Results
MONTREAL, April 29, 2008 - Aptilon Corporation (“Aptilon” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: APZ), a leading provider of physician access through its innovative alternative sales and marketing channel, today announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2007. Financial references are in CDN dollars unless otherwise indicated. Complete financial statements and MD&A are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
§ Revenues increased 84% to $7.8 million from $4.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2006
§ Gross profit increased 20% to $2.4 million from $2.0 million in 2006
§ Net loss totaled $6.2 million compared to $3.3 million in 2006
§ Completed public offering of 25,000,000 common shares, at a price of $0.40 per share, raising net proceeds of $9.1 million
§ Signed one-year renewal agreement with Merck & Co.
§ Signed agreement with Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc. for AxcelRxSM Live video detailing sales channel
§ Completed acquisition of GasJobs.com and Med2020.com, two U.S.-based physician job-search and employment-referral websites
§ Announced positive results of an independent physician prescription tracking study conducted to confirm the effectiveness of AxcelRx Live Video Detailing program
“Fiscal 2007 was a solid year for Aptilon. We delivered significant revenue growth and continued upward momentum in gross margins, reflecting the progress we are making in penetrating the pharmaceutical market with our highly effective, alternative sales channel,” said Denis Martineau, President of Aptilon. “Our continued relationship with Merck and new customer relationships with Ortho-McNeil, a division of Johnson & Johnson as well as other top 10 pharmaceutical companies, are a testament to the effectiveness of our AxcelRx Live video detailing service and its ability to strengthen their sales teams by reaching hard-to-see physicians and increasing prescribing rates.”
“Mr. Martineau added, “We also completed the acquisition of Allied Health Partners' network, along with Med2020.com and GasJobs.com, to ensure increased physician interactions for our clients while decreasing our reach costs. We will continue with this acquisition strategy to ensure ReachNetSM, our network of over 450,000 opted-in health care professionals via partner and company-owned websites, remains at the forefront of the delivery of targeted information to physicians across the U.S.”
Financial Review
As a result of a change in year-end from August 31, 2006 to December 31, 2006, the twelve months ended December 31, 2007 are compared to unaudited figures for the twelve months ended December 31, 2006. Financial results were audited for a twelve-month period ended August 31, 2006 and for the four months ended December 31, 2006 only.
For the year ended December 31, 2007, revenues increased 84% to $7,815,079, compared to $4,251,605 for the same period a year ago. Increased revenues in 2007 resulted from an increase in the number of pharmaceutical clients, an increase in the number of pharmaceutical brands actively promoted and an increase in the number of billable interactions with health care professionals. Contracts for a total value in excess of $1.6 million were signed in the fourth quarter of 2007 and in the first quarter of 2008. Part of the costs associated with these contracts were incurred and recognized in 2007, however revenue will only be recognized in 2008.
Gross profit for the twelve months ended December 31, 2007, was $2,352,927, compared to $1,969,345 in 2006. Expressed as a percentage of revenue, gross margins decreased to 30% in 2007 from 46% in 2006 mainly due to the following items related to new customers and programs that will start in 2008: production team ramp-up expenses, set-up costs, and increased ReachNet costs to meet higher requirements from these new clients. The Company expects these efforts to lead to significant increases in revenue and gross margins in future periods.
Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses for 2007 were $2,809,012 or 36% of revenues, compared to $1,499,890 or 35% of revenues in 2006. SG&A expenses consist primarily of salaries (including commissions and bonuses), personnel expenses of executive management and administrative personnel, and related office, premises, and other infrastructure support costs.
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2007, was $6,205,325 or $0.0407 per share, compared to $1,771,134 or $0.0528 per share for the four-month period ended December 31, 2006 and $3,332,808 for the year ended December 31, 2006. Approximately $458,000 of the net loss is attributable to the shift in currency exchange and reduced revenues.
As at December 31, 2007, the Company had working capital of $8,872,196 including cash and cash equivalents of $8,085,215 compared to $6,542,888, including cash and cash equivalents of $6,892,709 at December 31, 2006.
The Company had 187,358,522 common shares outstanding (fully diluted) at December 31, 2007.
About Aptilon
Aptilon enables pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies to effectively reach and interact with physicians via the Internet through its innovative AxcelRx Live video detailing (with company reps), virtual programs, e-Sampling, peer selling and other sales and marketing programs. Leading health care companies have adopted Aptilon’s “Sales Force of the Future” model, driving tens of thousands of high-quality rep-physician interactions averaging 8 to 10 minutes in length. Aptilon provides the infrastructure necessary for sales representatives to build physician awareness, understanding and preference during all stages of a products life cycle, from pre-launch education through end stage support. For more information, visit www.aptilon.com.
Forward-looking statements
This news release contains forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect management’s current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management of Aptilon. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from the events performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and Aptilon does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
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The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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