SpineGuard Announces Its Full-Year 2021 Financial Results and Its First Quarter 2022 Sales - Seite 2

Net operating result under control and increased investments for innovation

The Company increased its investments for innovation and strengthened its commercial activity in the United States while maintaining strict discipline on expenses.

The Net Loss was reduced to € -1,725K vs. € -2,716K in 2020.

Gross margin decreased by 130 bps at 81.9% vs. 83.2% mainly due to the lower percentage of sales made in the United States where sales prices are higher than in the rest of the world. Sales prices remained stable in the United States while they increased in the rest of the world due to a significantly different country mix compared to 2020.

Operating expenses decreased by 3.1% or € 153K reflecting a rigorous control of operational expenses over the year in the still impacting context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Non-recurring operating costs are mainly related to the French “sauvegarde” and US Chapter 11 proceedings at € 110K vs. € 875K in 2020.

Working capital requirements were € -133K vs. € -176K in 2020.

Financial expenses were € -299K mainly corresponding to the interest charges of the venture loan with Norgine Venture, Harbert European Growth Capital and Bpifrance. There are € 44K of forex rate gains and € 179K of non-cash financial expenses, which have no impact on the cash and are related to the compliance with IFRS accounting principles on financing instruments.

Cash runway extended over 24 months

At December 31, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were € 5.2M, plus the secured € 5.0M of convertible warrants (BSAR) secured with Nice & Green. As of March 31, 2022, cash and cash equivalents were € 4.3M. With the balance of the equity line of € 5.0M, SpineGuard’s cash runway stands at over 24 months.

In addition, should 100% of the Warrants be exercised, the free allocation of Redeemable Warrants set up in June 2021 may generate gross proceeds of € 5,370K and would extend by 24 month the cash runway.

Significant R&D advances

Robotic application:

In 2021, the collaborative work with the ISIR of Sorbonne University made solid progress with the implementation of a new platform of experimental equipment including a medical grade robotic arm, a programmable drilling set, as well as various equipment. This enabled specific 3^rd generation programming for the automated detection of bone breaches and the performance of a large-scale in-vitro study which produced outstanding results: 100% success in 104 drillings with a submillimeter precision. In parallel, the Company took steps for its IP protection.