c-LEcta: Successful Transformation into a Product Company in 2018 with a Promising Outlook for 2019

c-LEcta, a globally active biotechnology company with technology leadership in enzyme engineering and bioprocess development for regulated markets such as the food and pharmaceutical industries, continued its successful development towards becoming a product company in fiscal year 2018. Successful products marketed by c-LEcta itself such as DENARASE ^® contributed to this development. The company also actively advanced the expansion of its corporate structures to support its current growth course and successfully exploit future market potentials.

For c-LEcta, the end of fiscal year 2018 has been marked by successful transformation. The company is going through a development process from a project company into a product company to better exploit existing market potentials in the food and pharmaceutical industries, and to continue its strong growth. Project business activities as a service business in contract research were completely discontinued last year on strategic grounds. This step was taken in order to place an even stronger focus on marketing products developed independently or in strategic cooperation with industry. Product sales and license income are expected to grow in the upper double-digit percentage range in 2018 compared to 2017.

Two of c-LEcta’s products are expected to account for nearly 80% of total product sales: DENARASE^® enables highly efficient production processes for biopharmaceuticals. c-LEcta’s sales of this product nearly tripled year-on-year. The company intends to further exploit the market potential of DENARASE^® in the double-digit million-euro range by intensifying its sales efforts in 2019. Considerable sales are also expected in the coming year with a process that will contribute to the more efficient production of cancer medications for a large pharmaceutical company. Probably the greatest product success in 2018 was the introduction of a new process to expand the production of plant-based sweeteners with a sugar-like taste. c-LEcta has thus enabled new concepts for sugar reduction, approaching a multibillion-euro market as a technology leader in enzyme engineering. Driven by the trend toward a conscious and healthy diet, c-LEcta’s unique, cost-efficient process and the products it produces are increasingly in demand. This was most recently reflected in the largest order in company history for this process, which produces a vegetable sugar substitute product.

c-LEcta has flanked its transformation into a product-oriented company with structural and organizational investments. It launched projects to digitalize the company’s infrastructure. c-LEcta continued developing its current digital solutions for ordering, shipping and logistical processes. Processes in the HR department and sales are now also to be made more efficient. This will lay the groundwork for continued personnel expansion: the c-LEcta team now has more than 60 employees and has grown by 20% since the beginning of the year. Sales, business development, production and quality management accounted for the lion’s share. c-LEcta also expanded its first management level: Thomas Pfaadt was named CFO in the middle of the year, bringing his extensive experience in corporate finance, M&A and investor relations to the company. The number of employees is expected to continue rising in 2019 to support the intensive expansion of the product and license businesses at all levels. The warehouse, laboratory and office space have also been expanded by a third to meet the needs of the company’s growth strategy.

The company has also been joined by Capricorn and bm|t, two new investors bringing access to further growth capital and an international network. Dr. Marc Struhalla, CEO of c-LEcta, is satisfied: “We achieved a lot in 2018 and were able, thanks in part to the successful financing round, to continue advancing our growth strategy towards becoming a product company. We have many interesting projects in our program for 2019. Our activities in the coming year will focus on the successful commercialization of finished product developments and the expansion and development of our pipeline. I think our work over the last 12 months has set the course for a successful 2019.”

About c-LEcta

c-LEcta is a fully integrated 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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Maximilian Franz
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email: franz@cometis.de