NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Enzo Biochem said after the close of the market on Monday that its fiscal first quarter revenues grew 2 percent year over year, driven by an 8 percent spike in clinical laboratory services.
For the three months ended Oct. 31, the New York-based firm tallied $25.2 million in revenues compared to $24.8 million in the same quarter last year. Clinical lab revenues were $17.1 million compared to $15.8 million in fiscal Q1 2015, due to Enzo's continued focus on its menu of high-margin molecular assays.
Meantime, Life Sciences (product) revenues fell 4 percent to $7.7 million from $8 million due primarily to foreign currency headwinds.
Late in fiscal Q1, the New York State Department of Health granted approval for Enzo's AmpiProbe-HCV assay for the quantitative detection of hepatitis C virus, allowing the company to offer the assay to residents of the state.
"AmpiProbe-HCV is the forerunner of a battery of new products under development in the molecular diagnostics space, which we are looking to roll out over the course of the next two calendar years," Enzo President Barry Weiner said in a statement. Enzo said it is planning products for the identification of women's health infectious diseases and assays to quantify viral loads for other diseases besides HCV.
"In addition, our intellectual property portfolio continues to provide us with increasing financial strength and flexibility that will help drive our progress and growth," Weiner added. Also during the quarter, Enzo disclosed that Affymetrix will pay it $10 million to settle a patent-infringement lawsuit related to nucleic acid analysis technology.
Enzo posted a profit of $4.4 million, or $.10 per share, compared to a loss of $3.7 million, or $.08 per share, in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, Enzo recorded a net loss per share of $.05 in fiscal Q1 2015 compared to a net loss per share of $.08 in the year-ago period. The adjusted net loss figure was due to $6.8 million in charges related to legal settlements.
The company said that its SG&A expenses remained steady year over year both on a dollar basis and at 41 percent as a percentage of revenues.
As of the end of fiscal Q1, Enzo had cash and cash equivalents of $30.6 million.