NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Danish miRNA firm Exiqon today reported an 8 percent jump in fourth-quarter revenue, reaching profitability.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2011, revenues came in at DKK 30.1 million ($5.4 million), up from DKK27.8 million a year ago.
Total operating expenses was reduced to DKK10.6 million from DDD12.4 million, and during the quarter Exiqon made a profit of DKK825 million, or DKK.02 per share, compared to a net loss of DKK8.9million a year ago.
Full-year revenues came in at DKK111.5 million, up 19 percent from DKK93.5 million in 2010. The company said that Life Sciences product sales rose 36 percent organically paced by Exiqon's proprietary miRCURY LNA Universal RT-PCR platform for miRNA research.
Total operating expenses for 2011 was DKK49.3 million, a 9 percent increase from DKK45.4 million a year ago.
Exiqon posted a net loss of DKK24.9 million, or DKK.73 per share, compared to a net loss of DKK43.5 million, or DKK1.32, in 2010.
CEO Lars Kongsbak said in a statement that the firm saw continued improvement in all key financial figures during 2011 and reached an "important milestone" of profitability in the fourth quarter.
"The goal for 2012 is a positive [earnings before interest and taxes], driven by a continued strong growth in our core business of life science product sales," he said.
He added that during the year the company plans to launch a "comprehensive portfolio" of new diagnostic products for miRNA analysis and expects to deliver its first validated biomarker profile for the early detection of colorectal cancer.