A York company that makes rapid testing kits has revealed it has slashed jobs amid ‘disappointing’ trading.

Abingdon Health, based at York Biotech Campus, announced the job cuts in a trading update for the year ending June 30.

The company says staffing is down from 123 in December to 86 at the end of July as it also took other measures to cut operational cash outflow.

This follows a slump in revenues to £2.8m in the year to June 30, compared with £11.6m in the year before.

Sales had been boosted by a major deal with government’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the early phase of the pandemic, but the lack of further such orders will lead to “a substantial loss” for the year.

The company commented: “A significant proportion of these losses relate to the increase in operational infrastructure related to AbC-19™ and the DHSC contract and the subsequent unwinding of this investment. “

As the pandemic waned, the company “transitioned its focus back to its contract service business model,” it said, and will look to return to growth.

In the second half of its financial year, Abingdon signed six new technology transfer contracts. The deals use the company’s lateral flow test expertise, with some of them in the areas of fertility and food testing.

The update also referred to deals with an unnamed European company, a US Covid-19 company called Vatic, plus a supply agreement for testing kits with Arise Biotech of Taiwan.

Last month, Abingdon also launched its Abingdon Simply Test range on its new e-commerce site featuring 11 self-test products. The company aims to both develop its own products and work with a range of suppliers, including its contract service customers, to provide a broad range of self-test products on the site.

Abingdon also continues to develop its own self-test products and is currently focussed on products for flu and Lyme disease. It is also working on Hepatitis C testing. It is also working with Ireland’s DeepVerge PC on testing pathogens and chemicals in wastewater.

CEO Chris Yates, said: “Despite what has been a challenging year for the Company, we are nonetheless encouraged by our progress, with a range of new COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 opportunities. We believe that FY23 will see a return to revenue growth and that our programme of investment will see us begin to generate meaningful commercial traction.”

“FY22 was disappointing in many respects, particularly the distraction of the Judicial Review and the challenges in resolving the lack of payment from the DHSC. Despite this hindrance we have built a solid base of international opportunities and we look forward to the new financial year with a growing base of contract service customers.”