(BFM Bourse) – The inventor of the first artificial heart expects an acceleration in its activity this year, after a disappointing 2023 financial year. In the meantime, Carmat plans to launch a fundraising campaign very soon allowing it to extend its financial horizon beyond the end of the month.
Carmat takes stock of a year 2023 which was disrupted by multiple delays in the implantations of Aeson, its artificial heart.
The company founded in 2008 published its 2023 progress update this Monday morning. The designer of artificial hearts indicated that it had crossed the threshold of 50 locations in 8 countries since the first operation in December 2013. If we focus only on year 2023, Carmat has carried out 17 installations, including 11 in the last three months of the past year.
A disappointing 2023 vintage
The sale of these 17 artificial hearts corresponds to a turnover of 2.8 million euros for the year 2023. In value, the account is therefore not there. The company clearly has its objective of achieving a turnover of around 4 to 6 million euros in the second half alone. This target was communicated at the end of September 2023, after the company generated lower than expected revenues in the first half of the year at 600,000 euros, and then corresponded to the sale of three Aeson cores.
Above all, Carmat is far from its objectives communicated in January 2023. The French company still anticipated revenues of between 10 million and 13 million euros for 2023. But artificial delays in production of its heart have disrupted the ambitions of the designer of the artificial heart.
So, the year 2024 will be a year of reconquest for Carmat. The company announces ambitious prospects, as the company plans to reach a production capacity of 500 artificial hearts per year from this year.
Carmat thus hopes to end the year 2024 with a turnover of between 14 to 20 million euros. “This objective assumes a strong acceleration in implementations in 2024, with an almost doubling (estimated) of the quarterly implementation rate compared to the fourth quarter of 2023,” says Invest Securities. The group is counting on the training of around fifty hospitals by the end of 2024, across 30 locations as part of the EFICAS study.
As a reminder, this study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the Carmat total artificial heart in patients suffering from irreversible biventricular heart failure as a bridge to transplantation, and its superiority compared to existing treatments for the same target patient population. in terms of cost and effectiveness. One of the objectives of the EFICAS study is the collection of medico-economic data and obtaining reimbursement for the device, particularly in France.
With this gradual ramp-up, Carmat maintains its objective of submitting to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, the American health authority) by the end of 2026, its file aimed at obtaining authorization allowing it to start the marketing of Aeson in the United States in 2027. In a note published at the end of October, Degroof Petercam estimated that the Aeson artificial heart could ultimately generate peak turnover of 750 million euros. The company also specified this Monday that it intends to reach the break-even point in 2027.
A crucial capital increase
But this increase in production desired by the French company involves additional financial resources. In mid-October, the group completed a capital increase of 7 million euros with several historic shareholders. However, this call to the market only ensured its financial horizon until the end of this month. Carmat therefore has no more money in the coffers, and needs at least 50 million euros to ensure its activity over the next 12 months. Or 40% of Carmat’s capitalization, which to date is 120 million euros.
The financial situation is therefore critical for the company which is forced to make a new appeal to the market, allowing it to ensure visibility beyond the end of the month. Carmat will provide further details in a dedicated press release.
The inventor of the first artificial heart is therefore trying to find solutions to avoid finding himself asphyxiated. On Friday, Carmat announced an agreement in principle with the European Investment Bank on the terms of repayment of a loan taken out in 2018.
On the Paris Stock Exchange, Carmat limited its decline to 4.9% around 11:45 a.m. after having plunged more than 10% in the morning and 15% on Friday. The results are therefore not flattering for the stock market file, with a title which has lost 24.5% since the start of the year.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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