Briefs: Acambis narrows 1H08 losses; Carbon Trust boosts free support for incubator clients
Vaccine-maker Acambis, the subject of a friendly takeover offer from Sanofi Pasteur, reported a narrower pre-tax loss in 1H 2008 of £12.2m, compared with £19.3m in1H 2007.
The Cambridge HQed group said 1H revenue was up to £8.8m in the six months to end June from £3.4m, mostly as a result of a payment from Sanofi Pasteur for extending its ChimeriVax-JE agreement to include India and the Indian subcontinent, development work under the ChimeriVax-West Nile partnership with Sanofi Pasteur and, for the US Government, relabelling stockpiled doses of ACAM2000 as licensed material.
The most notable 1H trading event was the April finalising of a $425m contract with the US Government for its ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine.
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The Carbon Trust incubator scheme, which accelerates the commercialisation of promising low-carbon businesses, announced partnerships with business advisory firm Grant Thornton and law firm Mills & Reeve to provide corporate finance and legal advisory support to its incubator companies.
Grant Thornton and Mills & Reeve will offer corporate finance and legal experience to the Carbon Trust's early-stage incubator businesses. The advice provided will include fundraising support, shareholder agreements, patents/IP, licensing, company re-structuring, manufacturing agreements, joint development agreements, employment contracts and NDAs; and will amount to a total of up to 17 hours of consultancy per company, valued at £200-£300/hour.
A recent survey of Carbon Trust incubator companies suggests that early-stage companies typically spend around £20,000 on IP/ patent advice and around £15,000 on general legal advice. The professional services support that Carbon Trust can now provide has the potential to save each company several thousand pounds.
Rachael Nutter, Head of Incubators at the Carbon Trust said: "Grant Thornton and Mills & Reeve have a track record of working in the clean technology sector, including with early-stage businesses. As a result of these new relationships, we believe that the Carbon Trust can deliver even greater value to the businesses we support, and ensure the best chance of rapid take-up of viable low-carbon technologies which will be vital to accelerate the move towards a low carbon economy."
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Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, said it has entered into an agreement with De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch Central Bank, to license Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer software.
