NetScientific's pre-tax loss was halved to $6.5m during 2019, and the firm also reported improved cash availability.

UK-based commercialisation firm NetScientific slashed its pre-tax deficit by almost half during 2019 to £4.9m ($6.5m) from $12m in the previous year.
Cash availability at the firm and its portfolio companies improved marginally to $4.6m from $3.7m, although all of its investments remain loss-making.
The period was one of consolidation for NetScientific. Faced with dwindling cash resources, the firm exited two of its portfolio companies in March 2019 and was at one stage considering delisting from the Aim stock exchange.
Former CEO François Martelet left in April 2019, with his successor Ian Postlethwaite due to follow in coming months having taken the role on an interim basis.
NetScientific will cite reduced operational costs – of $5.4m versus $10.6m in 2018 – as evidence that its strategy is paying off.
Its remaining portfolio companies have been able to make progress, although Covid-19 is expected to prompt changes to their trajectory.
Highlights last year included $6m of a total $10m series A commitment from drug firm Fosun Pharma for NetScientific-backed liver disease diagnostics producer Glycotest, a spinout of Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Drexel University.
Postlethwaite said: “The company’s strategy remains to seek to maximise shareholder value from its core and other portfolio companies, which continue to perform and are making progress.
“During 2019, the company carried out a review of all areas and significantly reduced the central function costs and headcount back to the essentials, thereby extending the company’s cash runway and using as much of the remaining cash as possible to maximise the value of the portfolio companies.”
– This story was updated to account for corrections from NetScientific, namely that the firm is still listed on the Aim stock exchange, and that Ian Postlethwaite is chief executive on a temporary basis.