Australia’s smallest listed biotech – Cryosite – is taking...

Australia’s smallest listed biotech – Cryosite – is taking courageous steps to discipline costs amid continuing losses.

The TGA-licensed clinical trials facilitator with a market cap of $2.3m has:

. Appointed NED Bryan Dulhunty as Executive Chairman

. Anointed Bryan Dulhunty has quasi-CEO in place of retiring CEO Mark Byrne

. Affirmed Bryan Dulhunty role as Company Secretary

In a further cost-cutting move, the three-member CTE BOD razor gang will be paying Byrne as a part timer in his new roll as COO Finance and Administration.

The razor gang has abolished the position of Business Development Manager, saying goodbye to Rory Carroll.

And it has forsaken attendance at selected medical conferences including BIO19 after finding that its outlay on attending/exhibiting produced little result.

The BOD has cranked Bryan Dulhunty’s remuneration package to beyon $300k including a $150k performance-linked bonus.

And it has offered the key man 1.3m options exercisable at 6c.

If/when these options are exercised, Dulhunty will emerge as sixth-ranking shareholder.

While Bryan Dulhunty, CA is getting busier at Cryosite, he continues as Company Secretary at
Dr Michael Monsour’s Brisbane-based $ALT/Analytica.

Insiders say Dulhuntly may seek to raise CTE’s profile via investor presentations and perhaps revive past media strategies, strategies that once resulted in expansive coverage in the SMH and BRW.

But first, they say, Cryosite will need to return to profitability.

Clues as to when this may happen might be found in the annual report to be released next month and then at the AGM.

Meantime, the group has flagged a full year loss of ~$1.5m including a $300k software write-off and the $1.1m ACCC loss booked in the first half.

While some may have reservations about CTE’s decision to combine the roles of Chairman and CEO, if the move allows Dulhunty to operate as a nimble agent of change and reconstruction, it may have merit.

Let’s see if BD can score a profit and build cash in the current half.

If he can, CTE has the potential to multi-bag.