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EUROBIO SCIENTIFIC: MAINTAINING HIGH LEVEL RESULTS IN 2021

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MAINTAINING HIGH LEVEL RESULTS IN 2021

  • Total turnover of €184.7m
  • Growth in non-COVID activities (+14%)
  • Strong EBITDA at €78m
  • Increased cash generation at €66m (€55m in 2020)
  • Cash position at €102m and decrease in financial debt (€11m)
  • Acceleration of strategic deployment focused on proprietary products, international development, and new market segments

Paris, April 6, 20227h30

Eurobio Scientific (FR0013240934, ALERS), a leading French group in specialty in vitro medical diagnostics, presents today its 2021 consolidated annual results, established according to French accounting standards and approved by the company’s board of directors which met on April 5, 2022.1.

In 2021, Eurobio Scientific maintained a high level of turnover and results, combining a strong activity related to the diagnosis of COVID in a context of strong reduction in sales prices, and a continuous increase in non-COVID activities. The Group succeeded in preserving its margins thanks to the increase in the share of proprietary products, which represent 25% of turnover in 2021. Eurobio Scientific ended the year with €102.4 million in cash and €10.7 million of financial debt. These significant resources will support organic growth, in particular through the intensification of R&D, international development and external growth in the years to come.

In million euros 2021
consolidated
2020
consolidated
Change
Revenues 184.7 188.5 -2%
Operating subsidies and other revenues 0.6 0.7
Total revenues 185.3 189.2 -2%
Cost of goods sold (82.5) (78.5) +5%
Gross margin 102.8 110.7 -7%
R&D expenses (3.4) (2.2) +55%
Marketing and sales expenses (19.0) (18.2) +4%
G&A expenses (7.4) (6.2) +19%
EBITDA 77.9 88.2 -12%
Operating result 72.9 84.0 -13%
Financial result 0.1 (0.4)
Extraordinary result 1.1
Goodwill amortization (2.8) (2.8)
Taxes (10.8) (7.4)
Net result 60.5 73.5 -18%
       
Cash 102.4  65.6   
Financial debt excluding leasing 10.7  24.9   
Shareholders equity 160.6 107.1   

A year 2021 driven again by the health crisis

Eurobio Scientific recorded revenue of €184.7 million in 2021, close to the level established in 2020. This figure reflects:
–  A still high level of sales related to the diagnosis of COVID (€102.6 million, or 56% of sales), despite prices declining significantly compared to the previous year. The activity remained mainly focused on products with higher added value, namely PCR tests for public and private laboratories, the Group’s historical customers. The share of proprietary products was maintained through to a reinforced R&D capability, full control of regulatory affairs and a new high-capacity manufacturing tool. This is how 5 new proprietary tests were put on the market in 2021.
–  Continued growth in traditional activities, excluding COVID (€81.5 million, i.e. 44% of sales). Eurobio Scientific benefited in particular from increased visibility linked to the new dimension acquired by the Group over the past 2 years, and from the increase in the number of installed instruments, a driver of growth.

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Eurobio Scientific also entered into new distribution partnerships aimed at making high-impact innovative products available for healthcare professionals and patients in France.
Last, the development of international sales continued during the financial year, supported by the Group’s foreign subsidiaries TECOmedical (Switzerland, Germany) and Pathway Diagnostics (United Kingdom), as well as by the conquest of new customers, in particular in the Middle-East.

In 2021, these sales figures were supplemented by payments received from historical partners in the therapeutic context for a total of €0.5 million, mainly related to the transition into clinical phase of a molecule jointly developed with AbbVie (formerly Allergan).

Maintaining a high level of results

With the increase in volumes sold, the impact of the reduction in COVID diagnostic tests prices was contained, and the gross margin level was maintained in 2021 at 56%, a historically high level, compared to 59% in 2020. As a result, the gross margin stands at €102.8 million, compared to €110.7 million in 2020.

Operating expenses reflect this high level of activity in terms of volume, continued structuring of the organization and increase in production and logistics capacities. They remain under control, with an increase of 12%, to €29.8 million, including a significant increase of 54% in R&D expenditure (€3.4 million) in line with the strategy.

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Results remain at a historically high level, with an EBITDA at €77.9 million (€88.2 million in 2020) and an operating profit at €72.9 million (€84.0 million in 2020).

The financial result is slightly positive (+€0.1 million vs -€0.4 million in 2020) and notably includes capital gains on securities, and currency exchange losses linked to the valuation of assets in dollars, lower than what was accrued at the end of the previous financial year.

In view of the 2021 results, the Group has used all of the carryforward losses that were generated within its tax consolidation group, and has not activated any additional carryforward losses. Corporation tax amounted to €10.8 million, compared to €7.4 million in 2020.

After taking into account €2.8 million in goodwill amortization, net income for 2021 amounted to €60.5 million, compared to €73.5 million in 2020.

Strong cash generation at €65.9m (€54.9m in 2020)

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With a high level of results and a controlled working capital requirement, Eurobio Scientific operations generated a cash flow of €65.9 million in 2021, i.e. €11 million more than in 2020.
The total amount of cash amounted to €102.4 million as of December 31, 2021 and shareholder equity to €160.5 million. Financial debt fell sharply to €10.7 million, mainly with the full repayment of the €10 million government guaranteed loan taken out in 2020. It includes bank loans for €8.9 million (including €6.3 million in the medium term) and €1.7 million of remaining bonds.

Perspectives: a new dimension

Eurobio Scientific now has very significant financial resources to continue to deploy its strategy, focused on increasing the share of proprietary products, pursuing international expansion, and opening up new market segments.

This strategy has already been initiated with the intensification of R&D which will be amplified to maintain strong product innovation, mainly in molecular biology, in the field of infectious diseases but also in other pathologies. It also involves the development of new synergies with its European subsidiaries TECOmedical and Pathway Diagnostics, beyond what was already done in the COVID segment since 2020. These R&D and/or international developments could be accelerated through acquisitions or targeted stakes, in line with the Group’s three strategic areas. This is illustrated by the stake taken at the end of 2021 in Usense Healthcare, a start-up specializing in point of care medical diagnostics based on urinary analysis and artificial intelligence.

At the same time, to support its strategy the Group continues to develop its distribution portfolio selectively. Eurobio Scientific has thus renewed its non-exclusive partnership with the Korean group Seegene, at least until 2023, and signed distribution partnerships in new areas. The Group became the exclusive distributor in France of HIV self-tests from US-based Orasure, which allows it to strengthen its presence with pharmacy networks. Eurobio Scientific also entered into partnerships with the Alcor and BenQ laboratories, and is studying new distribution agreements in the field of “Point of Care” proximity tests, or connected biology based on artificial intelligence.

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In addition to this strategic deployment, the entry into Eurobio Scientific’s capital of investment funds managed by NextStage AM as part of its “Pépites et Territoires” program should take place before the end of the second quarter of 2022.

On the basis of the new dimension acquired during 2020 and reinforced in 2021, Eurobio Scientific has all the assets to continue to meet, in France and internationally, the needs of laboratories, by deploying an offer mixing its own innovative products and those of its partners. These strengths will also enable the Group to enter new markets, in terms of both customers and technologies, and to develop its presence in new territories.

Next financial meeting

Shareholders annual general meeting: June 13, 2022

Disclaimer
This press release contains elements that are not historical facts including, without limitation, certain statements about future expectations and other forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, profitability or events to differ materially from those anticipated. In addition, Eurobio Scientific, its shareholders, and its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties in relation to, statistical data or predictions contained in this press release that were taken or derived from third party sources or industry publications. Such statistical data and predictions are used in this press release for information purposes only. Finally, this press release may be drafted in the French and English languages. If both versions are interpreted differently, the French language version shall prevail.

1 Audit procedures on the consolidated accounts are still being carried out by the statutory auditors.

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Artificial Intelligence

Lucinity’s AI Innovation Recognized at Microsoft’s Prestigious Global Partner Awards 2024

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REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Lucinity has been recognized as a finalist in the AI Innovation category at the prestigious Microsoft Global Partner Awards 2024, recognizing its breakthrough AI solution and contribution to financial security through its collaboration with Microsoft. 

Lucinity beat more than 4,700 companies to be named a finalist at the annual Microsoft Global Partner Awards, which highlights Lucinity’s achievements as a Microsoft partner in optimizing business processes, improving customer experiences, and opening new pathways for digital transformation.
This achievement comes in addition to winning two prestigious awards at Microsoft Partner Awards 2024 last month, including Partner of the Year – Iceland, and the Sustainability and Social Impact award.
The accolade recognizes Lucinity’s significant advancements in AI for financial crime operations, particularly through their AI-powered copilot, Luci. This innovative solution utilizes Microsoft Azure OpenAI technology to integrate advanced generative AI into financial crime investigations and regulatory compliance, optimizing processes and saving significant time and resources for financial institutions.
The Lucinity platform streamlines compliance, provides instant insights, and reduces typical investigation times from three hours to just 30 minutes. The technology can also save financial institutions an estimated $100 million in productivity savings, as well as savings in training and recruitment.
Microsoft comments on Lucinity’s award recognition, saying “Financial crime profoundly impacts our global community, with far-reaching economic, security, and social implications. It can harm a country’s reputation and increase exposure to criminal activities, emphasizing the critical need for robust anti-money laundering initiatives and persistent vigilance. Lucinity, with their innovative AI solutions, has really tried to combat this huge global challenge. They use ‘Human AI’ to enhance financial crime prevention, combining AI with human expertise for efficient, user-friendly solutions. Additionally, Lucinity has developed a tool called Luci, an AI-powered copilot that helps transform financial crime prevention from a process that took hours to one that takes minutes.”
“Being recognized as a finalist at the Microsoft Global Partner Awards is  validation of our impactful collaboration with Microsoft in financial crime operations. Our partnership has been pivotal for our innovations, enabling us to use Azure OpenAI to bring tools like Luci to life and deliver impactful results for our clients,” says Guðmundur Kristjánsson, Founder & CEO of Lucinity.
Contact:Name: Celina PabloEmail: [email protected]: +354 792 4321
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2208676/4669079/Lucinity_Logo.jpg

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Asia Pacific View: Foreigners Looking for the Most Practical Smart Technology at the 2024 World Intelligence Expo

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BEIJING, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Bionic robots that speak both Chinese and English can have the same skin and nails as humans? A flying car powered solely by wind can have a maximum payload of 160 kg? A smart wheelchair can control its operation with just the “mind”? Kevin and Daria, two foreign bloggers, have experienced during the World Intelligence Expo held in Tianjin how the artificial intelligence can empower people’s future lives in industries such as technology, trade, logistics and cultural tourism.

 
With the theme of “Intelligent Travel Empowering Future”, the Expo integrates exhibitions, experiences and events, attracting more than 550 exhibitors and institutions from all over the world, including more than 70 well-known enterprises such as Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Danfoss, and 57 universities and research institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University and Tianjin University. The Expo set up 10 major themes such as artificial intelligence, intelligent networked vehicles, intelligent manufacturing and robots, covering the frontier hot spots of the intelligent industry. A number of cutting-edge new technologies, new products, and new experiences from all over the world were showcased centrally, reminding people that technology will completely change the lifestyles in the future.
At the exhibition site, various intelligent robot products such as humanoid robots, bionic robots, and intelligent robot dogs interact with the audience on the spot. They are no longer fantasies in science fiction or movies, but play an important role in monitoring, rescue, cultural tourism and other fields. In the low-altitude economic exhibition area, a number of drones, flying vehicles, and aerospace technology companies collectively display advanced technology products. A low-altitude aircraft shaped like a helicopter brought by the German company Tensor can independently complete cargo transportation, takeoff and landing according to pre-set routes according to the instructions. Robotic arms incorporating technologies such as 5G, IoT, edge computing, rocker robotics, and artificial intelligence can shoot high-frame-rate video and support autofocus, achieving effects that cannot be achieved in traditional shooting modes. Viewers can also have more novel experiences with the help of smart technology.
The Expo also hosted three major events such as the Asia-Pacific Robotics World Cup Tianjin International Invitational, the World Intelligent Driving Challenge, and the International Intelligent Sports Conference. A number of technological achievements and innovative applications were demonstrated in the competitions. For exhibiting companies, this Expo is also an opportunity to further promote the transformation of enterprises to information technology and digitalization, and will also bring huge business opportunities.
Contact: Guo RanPhone: 008610-68332663Email: [email protected] 
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjjzurfN_r0 Logo:  https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2451195/logo_Asia_Pacific_View_Logo.jpg
 

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Tech Companies Leading the Charge in the Transformative AI Era

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USA News Group Commentary
Issued on behalf of Avant Technologies Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — USA News Group – The world is changing rapidly thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), with what’s being called the Transformative AI era which comes with great benefits and also potential dangers. The economic impacts are global, with a new report from The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) urging central banks to adapt rapidly to AI advances. Now it’s become apparent how important it is for companies to understand how to harness the full potential of GenAI to secure strategic revenue growth in the coming years. The surge of AI’s usefulness is accelerating innovation in R&D, while behind the scenes tech companies are advancing the infrastructure required to keep this revolution going, including new developments from Avant Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI), Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN), Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Known for pioneering advancements in AI, Avant Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI) has persistently refined and expanded its premier offering, Avant AI™. This sophisticated AI platform, celebrated for its machine learning and deep learning capabilities, is the culmination of Avant’s efforts to deliver unprecedented and cost-effective compute infrastructure that unlocks the full potential of AI and ushers in a new era of technological advancement. 
“There is a real unmet need as rapid growth across the entirety of the AI and big data industries is outpacing the necessary infrastructure for an industry that demands exponential power and capacity while remaining cost effective,” said Avant’s CEO William Hisey in a recent address of progress on AI supercomputer-driven data centers. “Avant’s ‘edge-native’ approach doesn’t rely on cloud-based services so we can offer AI and big data companies many advantages over the more familiar ‘cloud-native’ approach, including, reduced latency, improved security and privacy, increased scalability, and reduced costs.”
In a recent strategic development, Avant entered into a Binding Letter of Intent (BLOI) with Flow Wave, LLC (FW), a prominent Florida-based firm specializing in immersible computer server technology. This agreement allows Avant to acquire up to 50 cutting-edge immersible computer servers from FW, in a transaction valued at $50 million.
“By integrating proprietary machine learning algorithms with open-source innovations into these servers, Avant is developing a highly intelligent system designed to optimize resource allocation, enhance performance, and drive unprecedented levels of efficiency and automation,” said Hisey.  “This marks the beginning of a new era for Avant Technologies, positioning us at the forefront of the supercomputer-driven data center industry and setting new standards for managing and storing AI applications.”
Flow Wave Immersible AI Supercomputer Servers are engineered for demanding AI and machine learning applications, delivering powerful processing capabilities that accelerate data analysis. Their cutting-edge cooling system is both energy-efficient and cost-effective, reducing environmental impact. These servers’ compact design facilitates easy installation in space-constrained data centers, and their robust construction ensures longevity and lower maintenance requirements.
In response to digital era challenges, Avant intends to acquire up to 50 of these high-performance servers. Their superior cooling technology boosts performance while conserving energy, aligning with Avant’s goal of providing top-tier AI infrastructure and maximizing efficiency. Additional details about the acquisition will be shared once the final agreement is secured.
In Q3 2024, Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) brought in over $900 million in new Generative AI bookings, for a total of $2 billion fiscal year-to-date. Despite missing its overall earnings targets, the market responded by sending its shares upward.
“We achieved strong new bookings of over $21 billion, up 22% over last year, and continued to accelerate our strategy to be the reinvention partner of choice, with another 23 clients with quarterly bookings of over $100 million, bringing the total of such bookings to 92 year-to-date,” said Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture. “We also achieved two significant milestones this quarter — with $2 billion in Generative AI sales year-to-date and $500 million in revenue year-to-date — which demonstrate our early lead in this critical technology.”
Back in May, Accenture took steps to help its clients to scale their Generative AI responsibly.
“Clients are eager to embrace the potential of generative AI, and we are ready to help them build responsible AI into every use,” said Sweet. “We do this for ourselves, and we can use that example to help our clients find success faster. Our focus is to enable our clients to innovate AI safely and be ready to seize the opportunities that AI will bring in the decades ahead.”
Recently, the cloud-based security solution provider Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) unveiled the general availability of its AI Gateway platform. Marketed as a comprehensive interface for managing and scaling generative AI workloads, the platform has transitioned from its beta phase, which started in September 2023, to full client use after successfully handling over 500 million requests.
This launch coincides with Cloudflare’s announcement of a partnership with Hugging Face, a leading platform for AI developers. The collaboration offers a one-click global deployment for AI applications via the Workers AI platform, now also generally available. As the first serverless inference partner integrated on the Hugging Face Hub, this allows developers to deploy AI models quickly, easily, and cost-effectively on a global scale, without the need for managing infrastructure or paying for unused compute capacity.
“Workers AI is one of the most affordable and accessible solutions to run inference,” said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder, Cloudflare. “With Hugging Face and Cloudflare both deeply aligned in our efforts to democratize AI in a simple, affordable way, we’re giving developers the freedom and agility to choose a model and scale their AI apps from zero to global in an instant.”
In the education space, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) through Google, is bringing new AI tools to Google Workspace for teen students using their school accounts to help them learn responsibly and confidently in an AI-first future, and empowering educators with new tools to help create great learning experiences.
“In the coming months, we’re making Gemini available to teen students that meet our minimum age requirements while using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in over 100 countries around the world, free of charge for all education institutions,” said Google in a blog post. “To ensure schools are always in control, Gemini will be off by default for teens until admins choose to turn it on as an Additional Service in the Admin console.”
Google has also developed a number of resources and trainings to help students, parents and educators use generative AI tools responsibly and effectively, including a video on how teens can responsibly use AI while learning.
After recently hitting a $2-trillion valuation, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continues to be a big player in the AI space. Now it’s reportedly working on its own AI chatbot that some say might be smarter than ChatGPT, named Metis, which will generate answers by grabbing info from the internet.
Metis is driven by an internal Amazon AI model known as Olympus, drawing inspiration from Greek mythology. According to sources, Olympus is a more advanced version of Amazon’s publicly available Titan model.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has noted that nearly every division within the company is engaged in some form of AI project. As a pioneer in cloud computing, Amazon has been developing machine learning, a subset of AI, for many years. Jassy recently announced that Amazon’s AI initiatives are projected to generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, with expectations of driving “tens of billions of dollars” in sales in the coming years.
However, Amazon has lagged in the realm of consumer AI assistants. An internal document from last year highlighted that Amazon “does not have a publicly or internally available product that looks and works exactly like ChatGPT.”
According to a source reported by Business Insider, the tentative launch date for Metis is September, right around the time when Amazon is set to host a big Alexa event, although the timeline could still change.
Source: https://usanewsgroup.com/2023/10/26/unlocking-the-trillion-dollar-ai-market-what-investors-need-to-know/
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USA NEWS [email protected](604) 265-2873
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