Genesis Research narrows loss, UBNZ may inject more funds

Tuesday 31st August 2010

Genesis Research, which was forced to halt its New Zealand operation last year after running out of cash, narrowed its loss, and may get another cash injection from new cornerstone investor, May Wang.

The company made a net loss of $511,000, or 1.37 cents per share, compared to a loss of $1.2 million, or 4.61 cents, it said in a statement today. It boosted income by almost a third to $595,000, including $119,000 from the sale of fixed assets and lab equipment. Its cash balance sank 37% to $204,000. Chief executive Stephen Hall said Wang’s UBNZ Funds Management, which took a stake in the firm in June, is interested in “making a further substantial investment” in Genesis.

“This has been a very challenging period for the company as it ceased active operations,” Hall said. “UBNZ has advised that it is interested in making a further substantial investment in Genesis, which will be subject to shareholder approval at a meeting to be held shortly.”

Genesis hit the rocks in May after its joint venture, Solirna Biosciences, stalled when its Japanese partner decided not to put in more funds. Solirna’s gene silencing research aimed to deliver disease-curing payloads into human cells. It was turned down for additional funding from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

Hall said a number of parties are interested in investing in Solirna, and he is “hopeful” the research can be continued. Genesis will now pursue developing new products for the dairy industry.

Wang’s UBNZ is contracted to supply milk to Hong Kong-listed Natural Dairy, which is the front-runner to buy the Crafar family farms.

The shares climbed 18% to 4.5 cents in trading yesterday, and have slumped almost 41% this year.

Businesswire.co.nz

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