The figures include a $1.9m impairment charge included as a result of the dramatic decline in the firm’s share price in recent months. The company had been predicting a net loss of $1.8m, excluding the charge.
The decline in Encorium’s share price came about after the company retreated from a merger with investment firm Linkcon that was intended to bring in additional CRO acquisitions in India, China and Latin America, as well as the proposed acquisition of fellow US CRO Prologue Research International.
Net revenue for the third quarter came in at $7.4m, up 3.5 per cent on the same period of 2007 and in line with its earlier predictions. There was a $650,000 increase in revenues generated by Encorium’s European operations, mainly resulting from favourable currency factors, offsetting a $400,000 decline in US sales.
The dip in US revenues was the result of “a decrease in the number of contracts and related contract values of active clinical studies being conducted,” said the company in a statement.
Dr. David Ginsberg, Encorium’s CEO, reiterated his earlier position on the results, saying “we continue to believe we are well positioned to compete and win new business in today's competitive environment.”
New business wins amounted to $16m in the quarter, up from $4m a year ago, and year-to-date the firm has $31.7m of announced new business awards up from $22.6m. As of September 30, the company had approximately $5.4m in cash and an order backlog of $40.6m.
Encorium offers a wide range of services to our clients from preclinical consulting, medical oversight, and regulatory strategy to management of pivotal Phase III studies, post marketing surveillance and patient disease registries.