SpineGuard posts 16% growth for H1 2017, appoints co-Founder Stéphane Bette as CEO

PARIS & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

SpineGuard (FR0011464452)(Paris:ALSGD), an innovative company that develops and markets disposable medical devices designed to make spine surgery safer, announced:

• First-half global revenue growth of 16% (13% cc) to €4.2M, compared with €3.6M in the first half of 2016;
• The appointment of Stéphane Bette, co-Founder, CTO and US General Manager, as CEO of the company effective on July 13^th; Pierre Jérôme, who has served as CEO since the company’s founding, will continue to serve as Board Director of the company;
• The implementation of a profitability plan to reach monthly breakeven by the end of 2018.

Unaudited

Global revenue in the second quarter of 2017 increased 8% on a reported basis and 6% at constant exchange rate (cc). In the first half, global revenue increased 16% (13% cc) to €4,199k, compared with €3,633k in the first half of 2016.

In the first half of 2017, 4,264 DSG units were sold compared with 4,351 in the first half of 2016, including 2,589 (61%) in the United States, where revenue grew 19% (15% cc) to €3,397k in the first half of 2017 compared with €2,866k in the same period last year.

Appointment of Stéphane Bette, Co-founder, as CEO

The Board of Directors has appointed Stéphane Bette, its US General Manager, CTO and co-Founder, as CEO of SpineGuard SA in succession of Pierre Jérôme, who continues to serve as a Board Director of the company.

Stéphane brings more than 20 years of experience in the spinal industry to the role. He co-founded the company and has led the US operations since 2009 while also retaining his role as Chief Technology Officer during this period. Prior to this, Stéphane spent 10 years at SpineVision, a private spine company, in a number of roles, ending as US General Manager. He started his career at Sofamor Danek in the 1990’s, prior to its acquisition by Medtronic. Stéphane received a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from ENSAM, France, and a Postgraduate Degree in Biomechanics from LBM in Paris, France.

“The Board is very pleased to appoint Stéphane as CEO to lead the company through its next stage of growth,” said Alan Olsen, Chairman. “He has led the company’s increasingly important US operations since 2009 as well as overseen the development of SpineGuard’s core DSG™ technology platform. He is a natural successor to his co-Founder Pierre Jérôme, whom we warmly thank for his leadership of the company over the past 8 years. Under Pierre’s stewardship, SpineGuard has grown from a one-product company with €1 million in sales, through multiple fund-raising rounds, including an IPO in 2013, to the strong position it is in today. We are very pleased to have Pierre continue his association with the company in his role as Director with a particular focus on strategic and business development initiatives.”

“SpineGuard is a high-performing company with a cohesive team and a unique technology in DSG™”, Stéphane Bette commented. “We delivered double-digit growth this first half of the year in a context where we are preparing for the US launch of our smart DSG™ screw. I look forward to intensifying SpineGuard’s focus on leveraging our core DSG™ platform through additional deals in spine and other musculoskeletal segments while continuing to grow our organic sales, capitalizing on our strong commercial, marketing and clinical foundations and rebalancing the organization. In order to reach financial freedom, we have set a specific goal that SpineGuard reaches breakeven by the end of 2018 and then profitability.”

Pierre Jérôme concluded: “After driving SpineGuard with close support from Stéphane since its inception, I am particularly glad to hand over the baton to him now – when momentum is building for the company with sustained growth, promising perspectives in China and the further deployment of our DSG™ technology platform in spine and dental through our partnership strategy. This smooth transition will provide continuity for our employees, customers and partners.”

Business focus for 2017 and 2018

To reach breakeven by the end of 2018, SpineGuard will concentrate its efforts on:

• Signing new industry partnerships for expanded commercial applications of its proprietary digital DSG™ technology within the spinal and broader musculoskeletal sector to trigger new sources of revenue;
• Growing its worldwide sales with a primary commercial focus on the US market which accounts for close to 80% of revenues;
• Implementing a profitability plan to right size its organization, capitalizing on its strengths and leveraging its cutting-edge proprietary DSG™ platform.

Next financial press release: 2017 Half-year financial results on September 14, 2017

About SpineGuard®

Founded in 2009 in France and the USA, by Pierre Jérôme and Stéphane Bette, SpineGuard’s mission is to make spine surgery safer by bringing real-time digital technology into the operating room. Its primary objective is to establish its proprietary DSG™ (Dynamic Surgical Guidance) technology as the global standard of surgical care, starting with safer screw placement in spine surgery and then in other surgeries. PediGuard®, the first device designed using DSG, was co-invented by Maurice Bourlion, Ph.D., Ciaran Bolger, M.D., Ph.D., and Alain Vanquaethem, Biomedical Engineer. It is the world’s first and only handheld device capable of alerting surgeons to potential pedicular or vertebral breaches. Over 50,000 surgical procedures have been performed worldwide with DSG™ enabled devices. Numerous studies published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals have demonstrated the multiple benefits that PediGuard® delivers to patients, surgical staff and hospitals. SpineGuard is expanding the scope of its DSG™ platform through strategic partnerships with innovative medical device companies and the development of smart instruments and implants. SpineGuard has offices in San Francisco and Paris. For further information, visit www.spineguard.com.

Disclaimer

The SpineGuard securities may not be offered or sold in the United States as they have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or any United States state securities laws, and SpineGuard does not intend to make a public offer of its securities in the United States. This is an announcement and not a prospectus, and the information contained herein does and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the securities referred to herein in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or exemption from registration.