PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE) is engaged within the development and commercialization of antimicrobial products through its patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) compound. Shares of the cleaning products developer jumped 42.50% through trading on Friday, October 26, 2018. Over the past month, PURE Bioscience has seen average daily volume of 31,851 shares. However, volume of 91,777 shares or dollar volume of $52,312, exchanged hands on Friday.
Shares of PURE Bioscience rallied on Friday, after the company reported fiscal year-end results for 2018. The company announced that revenues of $1,774,000 for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2018. This represents a 3% decline from fiscal 2017 revenue results of $1,831,000. PURE Bioscience reported fiscal 2018’s net loss at $7.4 million, which expanded compared to fiscal 2017’s results of $6.3 million. Gross margins also declined to 60% in fiscal 2018, from 61% last year. Here is the full press release detailing of the fiscal year-end results:
PURE Bioscience, Inc. Press Release:
PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE), creator of the patented non-toxic silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, today reported financial results for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2018.
Summary of Results – Year End Operations
- Revenues for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2018 decreased 3% to $1,774,000, compared with revenues of $1,831,000 in the prior fiscal year. The decrease of $57,000 was entirely attributable to reduced sales within our existing legacy, non-food safety customer base.
- Core food safety revenues for fiscal 2018 increased 23% as compared with food safety revenues in fiscal 2017. Fiscal Q4 food safety revenues increased 165% and we anticipate that in fiscal Q1 ’19 triple digit revenue growth year-over-year will continue.
- Net loss for fiscal 2018 was $7.4 million, as compared with $6.3 million for fiscal 2017. Net loss, excluding inducement expense, derivative expense, and share-based compensation, for fiscal 2018 was $4.7 million, as compared with $4.9 million for fiscal 2017.
- Net loss per share was ($0.11) as compared with ($0.10) for fiscal 2017.
- Gross margin was 60% for fiscal 2018 as compared with 61% for the same period in fiscal 2017. The decrease was primarily attributable to the sale of higher margin formulations and packaging configurations of our products during fiscal 2017 as compared with the current year.
Update – Fiscal Q4 to Present
- Financings:
- In July, we raised $500,000 in the form of a promissory note from Tom Lee, a member of our Board of Directors and our largest shareholder.
- In August, we closed on an approximately $1.5 million private placement with existing shareholders. The funds raised included cancelled indebtedness of approximately $504,000 held by Lee.
- Proceeds of both financings were used for general working capital purposes.
- Striving towards our previously stated goal to achieve cash flow breakeven in late calendar Q1 2019, in August, we continued to implement meaningful restructuring and cost reduction measures while pursuing immediate revenue generating opportunities, including:
- Board and management salaries and fees have been reduced, in some cases by 50%,
- Material reductions were made in outside advisor and service costs, and
- Sales and marketing expenses not directly related to new customer acquisitions and revenue growth were eliminated.
- BOD and Strengthened Management:
- In July, we named attorney and entrepreneur Ivan Chen to our Board of Directors, filling the vacancy left by the retirement of Director William Otis.
- In October, we promoted seven-year PURE veteran Tom Myers to Chief Operating Officer to oversee operations, and our go-to-market strategy and team.
Hank R. Lambert, CEO, said “We are pleased to have closed the fiscal fourth quarter with strong momentum – and quarterly food safety revenues putting us on a $2 million annualized run rate. We are also very encouraged that fiscal Q1 is off to a strong start. Our quarterly core food safety revenue growth has grown to triple digits, which reflects our strategic focus and the game changing nature of our SDC-based solutions.”
Lambert continued, “We are seeing expanding use by Taylor Farms of PURE Control (our direct food contact antimicrobial solution), accelerating progress in gaining adoption of our truck sanitizing solution among food transport companies, and accelerating expansion of PURE Hard Surface use in processing plants and restaurant chains.
“We have squarely addressed expenses and taken a series of meaningful steps to significantly reduce our overhead. This combination of revenue momentum and expense control lead me to reaffirm my expectation that, based upon our projections of customer adoption and rollout, we can achieve a cash flow breakeven annual revenue run rate of approximately $6 million by the end of calendar Q1 2019,” concluded Lambert.
2018 Fiscal Year-End Financial Results Conference Call
The Participant Dial-In Number for the conference call is 1-631-891-4304. Participants should dial in to the call at least five minutes before 1:30pm PDT (4:30pm ET) on Thursday, October 25, 2018. The call can also be accessed “live” online at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=131359.
A replay of the recorded call will be available for 90 days on the Company’s website (http://www.purebio.com/investors/events-presentations/). You can also listen to a replay of the call by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (international participants dial 1-412-317-6671) starting October 25, 2018, at 7:30pm ET through November 1, 2018 at 11:59 pm ET. Please use PIN Number 10005505.
About PURE Bioscience, Inc.
PURE Bioscience, Inc. is focused on developing and commercializing our proprietary antimicrobial products primarily in the food safety arena — providing solutions to the health and environmental challenges of pathogen and hygienic control. Our technology platform is based on patented stabilized ionic silver, and our initial products contain silver dihydrogen citrate, or SDC. SDC is a broad-spectrum, non-toxic antimicrobial agent, which offers 24-hour residual protection and formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from existing products in the marketplace because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and it mitigates bacterial resistance. PURE is headquartered in El Cajon, California (San Diego metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at www.purebio.com.
Forward-looking Statements
Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release concerning the company’s expectations, plans, business outlook or future performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company’s failure to implement or otherwise achieve the benefits of its proposed business initiatives and plans; acceptance of the Company’s current and future products and services in the marketplace, including the Company’s ability to convert successful evaluations and tests for PURE Control into customer orders and customers continuing to place product orders as expected and to expand their use of the Company’s products; the Company’s ability to raise the funding required to support its continued operations and the implementation of its business plan; the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive required regulatory approvals for such products, including the required data and regulatory approvals required to use its SDC-based technology as a direct food contact processing aid in raw meat processing and to expand its use in OLR poultry processing; competitive factors, including customer acceptance of the Company’s SDC-based products that are typically more expensive than existing treatment chemicals; dependence upon third-party vendors, including to manufacture its products; and other risks detailed in the Company’s periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2018 and Form 10-Q for the third fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2018. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.
