Message to Shareholders
Results for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 ended June
30, 2022 (“Q3”) provide a seventh consecutive quarter
of profitability. In turn, the nine months of fiscal
2022 (“YTD”) realized year-over-year sales growth of
14%, along with a large increase in cash-flow from
operations. This progress is the result of our successful
transformation into a creator, maker, and marketer of
innovative, proprietary, branded, and fully-regulated
medical devices.
Shortly before this message was finalized, Microbix
disclosed an important new phase of sales growth:
Supplying QAPs to include in kits of consumables sold
by a leading global point-of-care test maker. Microbix
is thereby realizing our objective to be the partner-ofchoice for providing in-kit controls for new generations
of infectious-disease diagnostic tests, including multipathogen tests (i.e., multiplex tests), cancer screening
(e.g., HPV testing), and for antimicrobial-resistance
profiling (i.e., AMR tests).
The investments we have made, and continue
to make, in product development, clinical and
regulatory support, manufacturing scale-up, process
validation, and relationship-building have been with
the objective of securing such high-volume ongoing
purchase and supply agreements. We expect that the
announced contract will be the first of many and lead
our QAPs to become the largest segment of Microbix
sales, with such sales doubling and redoubling over
the next several years.
In addition to our multi-faceted work on QAPs, we
continue to add to our overall capabilities. Recent
quarters have seen the addition of management
directors to support enhanced IT capabilities (a
belated welcome to Mr. Dennis Haikalis), as well as
deeper clinical lab expertise (a more timely welcome
to Dr. Anu Rebbapragada). Microbix expects to
continue to add to our leadership team on a crossfunctional basis, as well as to promote from within as
merited and whenever possible.
Q3 has seen still more positive milestones, including
the completion of renovations to our third site,
commissioned for semi-automated production of
DxTM™, offices, and warehousing. Fully-automated
DxTM production is now targeted to start in fall of
2022, in time for winter respiratory virus testing. In
preparation for that expanded capacity, Microbix
is engaged with outreach to labs in other Canadian
provinces to provide a domestic supply option.
In its other major business line, our antigens testingredients business, Microbix is seeing a recovery in
the demand that had been supressed as a result of
the pandemic disrupting care patterns. Specifically,
Q3 sales of antigens neared $2.3 million, up 42% from
their low-point just the prior quarter. Our outlook for
antigens is positive with a solid order book over the
balance of fiscal 2022 and into 2023.
Each of Microbix’s revenue-oriented business lines is
progressing, enabled by our talented and dedicated
team. To retain and incentivize our staff in the face of
much higher inflation, we’ll keep working to provide
optimal pay and career opportunities. One such
action will be the start of a deferred profit-sharing
plan, as part of emphasizing performance-linked
compensation measures across Microbix.
Microbix’s many shareholders continue to be key
in driving our growing success. Your support helps
us to navigate the business, economic, and social
issues of these times and we can happily report still
better measures of financial solvency alongside our
profitability. In tandem, any working capital not
needed immediately for operations is being directed
into short-term investments and our leadership will
likewise evaluate further debt repayment, share
buybacks, and acquisitions if accretive to earnings.
To conclude, Microbix is starting to emerge as a distinct
brand in the diagnostics sector – A firm that doesn’t
market particular tests, but instead makes everyone’s
tests work better. This quality-centric message unifies
our three business lines, whether it be supporting test
production (antigens), securing sample collection or
ensuring test-accuracy (DxTM and QAPs). We remain
excited, motivated, and thankful about our work and
our company!
Personally and on behalf of our team, I thank you for
your continuing support and wish you all the best.
Cameron L. Groome
Chief Executive Officer and President
