c-LEcta: Financial Figures for 2018 Underscore Successful Transformation into a Product Company

c-LEcta, a globally operating biotechnology company with technology leadership in the fields of enzyme engineering and bioprocess development, has successfully developed its business model into an international product company in fiscal year 2018. The focus was on products for regulated markets such as the food and pharmaceutical industries. Total sales in fiscal 2018 amounted to EUR 4.5 million.

Sales of in-house developed products increased by more than 70% in fiscal year 2018. This accounted for around two thirds of the company’s revenues. In the product business, c-LEcta manufactures and markets its own biotechnological products. At present, the focus here is on enzyme products that make industrial food and pharmaceutical production more efficient as processing aids. In the future, biotechnologically produced and finished ingredients for applications in the food and cosmetics sectors will also be added as products. The project business is the second source of sales. Here, c-LEcta works in strategic partnership with leading companies from the food and pharmaceutical industries, for example, on the development, commercialization and marketing of jointly developed products. As planned, the share of project business fell to around one third of total sales in fiscal 2018. In the course of this development, c-LEcta was able to further diversify its own product portfolio and achieved around 70% of product sales with three different products. In fiscal year 2017 a single, highly successful product was still responsible for this share of sales. As a result, c-LEcta is more independent of individual products and gains greater sales stability for the coming years. In addition, the company laid the foundation for further growth in the dynamic market for food ingredients. More than two thirds of sales in fiscal year 2018 were already generated in this area. The remainder of sales came mainly from products for the pharmaceutical market.

“In the past fiscal year, we focused on developing c-LEcta into a product company. Our rapidly growing product business gives us access to new customers. We are convinced that our core market for food ingredients still offers great potential for our unique biotechnology solutions. With the transformation of our company strategy, we have laid the foundation to realize this potential,” said Marc Struhalla, founder and CEO of c-LEcta.

In fiscal year 2018, c-LEcta invested in personnel expansion, in particular. Thus, the company laid the foundation stone to suit its increased activities in marketing its own products and further growth. At the end of 2018, 63 employees were working for c-LEcta, eight more than at the end of the previous year. The site area was expanded by around 800 m² to a total area of 3,100 m². The company also invested in property, plant and equipment for research and development and in production facilities.

“The past fiscal year was marked by many positive changes. As an innovative company with customers from 25 countries on four continents, we have a broad international base. The investments we made have also helped us to diversify our products. The financial resources from the last successful round of financing give us the freedom to push ahead with our growth strategy in the current fiscal year,” explains Thomas Pfaadt, CFO of c-LEcta.

For the current fiscal year, the management expects further expansion of the product business and plans more investments in growth.

About c-LEcta

c-LEcta is a world-leading biotechnology company with a focus on enzyme engineering and application in regulated markets like the food and pharma industries. The company is based in Leipzig, Germany, and has established itself as a leading player in the realization of high-value biotech products, either in the form of in-house developments or in close cooperation with industry. The company currently employs more than 60 people.

c-LEcta delivers cost-efficient and sustainable production processes which open new markets and allow for better penetration of existing markets. The company is characterized by fast and efficient development of best-in-class biotech solutions and a rapid and successful market introduction and commercialization of the resulting products. This enables c-LEcta to leverage the unique potential of its core technologies. c-LEcta has a proven track record of more than ten successfully commercialized high-value industrial biotech products.

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cometis AG
Maximilian Franz
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Fax: +49 (0) 611 - 205855 – 66
e-mail: franz@cometis.de