Pacific Edge goes back to shareholders for another $20m

Pacific Edge said the money raised would tide it over until it broke even on a cash flow basis. Photo / 123RF

Pacific Edge has gone back to shareholders for another $20 million, which it said would tide it over until its cash burn ends.

The bladder cancer test maker said it would raise $7m at 15 cents per share in a placement to institutional investors and customers of local brokers, which was fully underwritten by Forsyth Barr and Jarden. That's a discount to the 16.5 cents the shares closed at yesterday. Trading was halted for the placement.

Pacific Edge said it would then raise a further $13m in a 1-for-4.25 pro-rata renounceable offer at a steeper discount of 10 cents per share.

The funds raised would support the commercial roll-out in the US, New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia, with the US$1.2 billion ($1.8b) North American market still the top priority. Pacific Edge said that would tide it over until it broke even on a cash flow basis.

"The board's focus remains on cash and cash management and ensuring the resources and capital are in place for Pacific Edge to realise its potential," chair Chris Gallagher said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the company pushed out its target to achieving positive cash flow until the March 2020 year, having previously targetted the 2019 period.

The company's first-half result, also released today, showed a $7.4m operating cash outflow in the six months ended September 30, an improvement on the $8.6m cash burn in the same period a year earlier.

After financing and investment activities, Pacific Edge's net cash outflow was $2.1m, leaving it with cash and equivalents of $2.7m and another $2m in short-term deposits, not enough to cover a similar cash burn.

And the company's first-half bottom-line loss widened to $9.4 million from $8.7m a year earlier, as a 12 per cent increase in operating revenue to $2.3m wasn't enough to offset the 6 per cent rise in costs to $12.1m.

Pacific Edge said it was focused on being included in local coverage determinations in the US for the Federal agency that administers the Medicare programme. The company said inclusion would lead to a significant increase in test adoption, revenue growth and positive operating cash flow.