Slimming firm celebrates pivotal year despite the pandemic

York-based OptiBiotix, which develops compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes, launched three SlimBiome products in Holland & Barrett in the first half of 2020. This was followed by a product line extension in 2021 to launch eight Holland & Barrett own-brand SlimExpert products.

The firm also launched a number of products containing OptiBiome under the Optislim brand with Woolworths, ChemistWarehouse and on OptiPharm's online store in Australia and New Zealand last October.

The terms of this agreement were subsequently extended to include Europe, parts of Asia, the Middle East, Gulf States and North America, allowing potential for future sales growth.

Full year revenue growth of £1.5m represented a 104 per cent increase in revenue from the 13 month reporting period in 2019.

The group is still at a loss making stage, but its Functional Fibres and Probiotic divisions achievied profitability at the EBITDA level after losses in the prior 13 month period.

Stephen O’Hara, chief executive of OptiBiotix, said: “This has been a pivotal year for OptiBiotix with doubling sales and a large reduction in costs enabling our Probiotic and Functional Fibre divisions to achieve profitability.

"This is a substantive change from divisional losses of £467,704 for ProBiotix and £451,572 for the functional fibre division reported in 2019.

"This was particularly pleasing given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and global recession in key markets, with weight management markets experiencing a 9 per cent decline in growth."

Mr O'Hara said the company has now established the scientific, clinical and commercial viability of its first-generation products (LPLDL and SlimBiome) with a network of internationally recognised partners, which are extending product ranges and territories providing a solid basis for future growth.

"We are also pleased to report commercial progress with our pipeline of exciting second-generation products with the industrial scale up of a range of our innovative SweetBiotix products and a number of large corporates signing Material Transfer Agreements as they develop applications containing SweetBiotix," he added.

“We have continued to make progress since the beginning of the current financial year with strong sales growth and larger orders as existing partners extend their product range and territories."

Mr O'Hara said the group's focus is on increasing sales of first generation products with larger partners in key strategic markets like India, the US and China, and commercialising its pipeline of second generation products in the year ahead.

“With interest in the microbiome increasing, growing sales, increasing margins, reducing costs, and an exciting pipeline of industry disruptive second generation products, the company is in a strong position for future growth in this exciting area of healthcare,” he said.