BATM Advanced Communications Ltd’s growth story continues

What it does

() provides solutions for networking and cybersecurity as well as for bio-medical and bio-waste treatment through its two operating divisions.

The networking and cyber division offers telecoms and network solutions, focusing on advanced software and cybersecurity, to tier-1  businesses and governments worldwide.

The bio-medical division focuses on the development and provision of diagnostic lab equipment as well as products to treat biological waste products from the medical, agricultural, and pharmaceutical sectors.

The group is listed on the main board of the London Stock Exchange and is headquartered in Israel with offices in North America, Europe, and the Far East.

How is it doing 

For the twelve months ended December 31, BATM reported US$183.6mln of revenue, up from US$123.4mln, whilst gross profit increased to US$60.7mln from US$33.1mln. Gross margins was marked at 33.1%, up from 26.9%.

Adjusted operating profit was stated at US$15mln, up 183% from US$5.3mln, and, earnings (EBITDA) doubled to US$19.7mln from US$9.8mln.

Cash from operations rose by 138% to US$20.1mln from US$8.4mln.

In early March the company also announced the launch of a new self-collected saliva-based COVID-19 test that significantly improves the sample collection process and turnaround time while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.

Samples are collected by chewing a cotton ball for 30 seconds and then spitting it (or spitting directly) into a small plastic collector tube.

It uses the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR technique to check for COVID. This approach is recognised to be more accurate than lateral flow tests, which sometimes return false results.

BATM said it has begun taking orders for the RT-PCR kit, which is part of subsidiary Adaltis’ MOLgen product range, and expects to begin deliveries in April.

The company has also completed the sale of its its software subsidiary NGSoft to Aztek Technologies after exercising an option to sell the business for US$33mln.

BATM said it intends to use the proceeds of the sale to strengthen its “innovation and commercialisation engine” and accelerate its core activities, particularly its network function virtualisation (NFV) and molecular diagnostics segments, which it said offered “transformational growth opportunities in the short to medium-term”.

The company added that the disposal of NGSoft, combined with the increased revenue contribution from molecular diagnostics and NFV, will support an “anticipated improvement in gross margin for 2021”.

What the boss says: Zvi Marom, chief executive

“>

Commenting on the company’s full-year results, Marom said: “This was an outstanding year for BATM. We delivered substantial financial growth, which was driven by our Bio-Medical division that was able to respond rapidly to the outbreak of the pandemic.

“In our Networking and Cyber division, we achieved a key milestone in securing our first tier 1 customer for NFVTime, which will soon begin the roll-out of our solution. As a result, we significantly advanced the execution of our strategy in molecular diagnostics and NFV – our key future growth markets.

“Looking ahead, we entered 2021 with sustained momentum in the Bio-Medical division as we continue to receive strong demand for our COVID-19 test kits and instruments,” he said. We are also scheduled to launch various new, very advanced diagnostic testing kits this year.

“In the Networking and Cyber division, we expect sales of NFVTime to make a good contribution to the full year revenue of this division. This will enable us to achieve further improvement in our gross margin, reflecting the strengthened foundations of the group.”

Video

Inflexion points

• Growth in testing kits production and sales
• More coronavirus-related orders
• Spending of funds from NGSoft sale