Bluechiip Limited banks $1.1 million R&D Tax Incentive Refund

Bluechiip Limited [ASX: BCT], a leader in the development of advanced sample management solutions for harsh environments, today announced that it has received $1.09M Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive Refund from the Australian Tax Office relating to the 2021 Financial Year (FY21).

Andrew McLellan, Bluechiip Limited’s Managing Director, welcomed the refund and said it provides a significant cash injection for the Company and augments its existing cash position.

“The $1.1M is significant, is in line with our expectations and was reported as a provision in our 30 June 2021 accounts. This cash refund comes at a time when we are experiencing an acceleration of commercial activity especially as global markets open-up.” he said.

“Our historical investment in R&D has positioned Bluechiip well for the future. The receipt of this R&D refund coincides with increasing sales and cash receipts from both OEM partners and direct customers providing additional runway to execute our strategy.

We continue to deliver on our partnership with FujiFilm Irvine Scientific under our Licence and Development agreement to customise our unique technology for the global Assisted Reproductive Technologies (aka IVF) market towards an anticipated long term Supply agreement. As well, we are delivering on evaluation phase orders with multiple potential partners in the global cell therapy, pharmaceutical and biobanking markets.

Especially encouraging is the uptake of our direct-to-market portfolio of products launched in December 2021 into the global Biobanking market. Our range of Bluechiip branded Advanced Samples Management solutions has now been delivered to 10 laboratories across 9 customers through our direct sales team in North America and Australia and through distributors in Europe. We have also made deliveries to Labcon in North America for their customers.”

Andrew noted that the FY 21 refund is lower than FY19 & 20 years' refund of $1.62M but this was in line with Bluechiip’s reducing R&D activity as a result of Bluechiip’s core chip technology transition from R&D into full scale production.

“While we are increasing our sales and marketing activities, ongoing R&D for our readers, software and Bluechiip enabled consumables remain an important focus as we adapt to the valuable feedback from our expanding customer base. We expect the R&D Tax Incentive Refund for Financial Year 2022 to be approximately $800k and, when received later this year, will further extend our runway.” he said.

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