Strong Underlying Growth and Daytona on Track

LONDON, UK, 18 July 2013 – Optos plc (LSE: OPTS), the leading medical retinal imaging company, today publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1st October 2012 to today, including data for the third quarter of its financial year ending 30 September 2013 (Q313) and nine months to 30 June 2013 (YTD13). All figures are reported in US$ and are unaudited.

Overview

Today we report Q313 headline revenues of $40.1m, marginally lower than the comparable period last year (Q312: $40.9m), however, underlying1 revenue for the quarter grew 14% driven by outright ("capital") sales in our direct markets. With the traditionally strong Q4 ahead of us and strong momentum from Daytona installations, we remain on track to meet the market's revenue expectations for the full year.

Highlights

• Continued growth in new customers 
  • Total installed base now 5,452, growth of 16% over the 4,689 opening placements at the start of the current financial year.
  • An increase of 356 customers in Q313 and 848 customers YTD13 (YTD12: 408). This represents the fastest rate of new customer acquisition in the company's recent history.
• 323 Daytona units were installed in Q313 (up from 133 in Q213 and 267 in Q113) taking the year to date installations to 723. We have now installed 1,052 Daytona devices worldwide. 
  • Order book of over 300 Daytona devices (including devices deliverable to OPSM early in our next financial year FY14).
  • We reiterate our guidance of 1,000 to 1,200 installations in the current financial year.
• As announced at the half year results, 200Tx business remains soft. 43 devices were placed in Q313 (51 in Q312) bringing our total world-wide placements to 422.
• Total Q313 revenues were $40.1m (Q312: $40.9m) 
  • Underlying Q313 revenue growth was 14% reflecting a 52% increase in outright ("capital") sales from $14.5m in Q312 to $22.0m in Q313.
  • Finance lease revenue was $6.9m (Q312: $10.3m) driven by the higher capital sales mix and lower renewals.
  • Service revenue rose to $7.2m in Q313, up from $4.3m in the comparable quarter last year. 
  • In line with our transition to rental contracts under finance leases, operating lease revenue fell to $4.0m in Q313 from $11.8m in Q312.
• YTD13 underlying1 revenue grew 9%. Headline revenues of $113.1m were 11% behind last year (YTD12: $127.1m).
• Savings from the restructuring process announced on 1st May 2013 are starting to feed through as planned.
• Net debt at 30th June 2013 is $46m, down from the $56m disclosed at end March 2013, driven by improved cash collections from capital sales.

Roy Davis, CEO, commented:

"We continue to see significant growth in new customers which has translated into a 16% increase in our installed base. We believe this reflects strong demand for our unique ultra-wide field capabilities. In particular, we are pleased with Daytona's performance with 323 units installed in Q3. Customer feedback is positive and our order book continues to grow. With our traditionally strongest quarter ahead of us and good progress with Daytona installations, we remain on track to deliver against the market's revenue expectations for the full year."

1. Underlying revenue growth is calculated by treating all payments receivable in the period from rental contracts as if they were operating leases, regardless of the actual accounting treatment, together with revenues from outright device sales and service contracts

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Note to Editors: Images available upon request