GroPep back in the black

Fulfilling a promise made to shareholders at its annual general meeting in November, Adelaide-based GroPep has ended 2002 free of debt and with $AUD5.6 million cash in the bank, newly hired CFO Tony Mitchell said today.

The company's ill-fated acquisition of Biotech Australia early last year sent the stock price spiralling downwards to 15 per cent of its high for the year of $2.35. Since bottoming out in mid-November at 36 cents, the share price has gradually been clawing its way back up, with recent trading at around 60 to 65 cents.

Mitchell said the company had come full circle since the acquisition, having now disposed of the former Biotech Australia site in Roseville as well as surplus plant and equipment assets.

"We're right on target," said CEO and managing director Bob Finder, who replaced John Ballard as managing director last year. "We plan to continue to maintain a healthy balance sheet and focus on a positive cash flow generation."

Finder said the company was still in the process of doing an extensive strategic review and would be making announcements about the direction of the company around the end of the first quarter this year.

At November's AGM, chairman Richard England told shareholders that the company would concentrate its R&D efforts on projects with an unmet medical need and good prospects, as well as bolster its core growth factor business by optimising production processes.

Finder said that the company was targeting a return to profitability in the 2003-2004 fiscal year.