North East technology firm Kromek has seen losses widen but insisted it was “looking to the future with confidence” after a number of revenue boosts.

Interim six month results for the County Durham radiation detection business showed that revenues rose 44% to £6.8m. In a separate announcement, Kromek also revealed that it had received £2.5m from Innovate UK to develop low-dose molecular breast imaging technology.

Despite the revenue rise and investment boost the NETPark firm’s EBITDA losses in the period grew from £600,000 in the same period last year to £2.7m, which it attributed to inflation-related costs and the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.

Kromek said it expected to be EBITDA positive and broadly cash flow neutral in the second half of its financial year. CEO Dr Arnab Basu (pictured above) said: “This has been a record six months for Kromek.

We’ve generated our highest ever revenue in an interim period while building our substantial pipeline for the full year and beyond. Our engagement with customers and potential customers in advanced imaging and CBRN detection has grown significantly.

In our key target market of SPECT/CT, we are now working with eight tier 1 and tier 2 OEMs to get qualified and designed into their next-generation medical imaging systems – which reflects our position as the only large-scale, independent provider of CZT.

At the same time, the geopolitical conflict continues to drive strong demand for our nuclear security products as governments increase their defence spending.”

He added: “Whilst we have been significantly impacted during the period by the inflationary environment and currency pressures, we are seeing this ease in the second half and, combined with strong revenue growth, expect to be EBITDA positive for H2 2023.

Accordingly, with the excellent revenue momentum and highest ever levels of customer engagement, we look to the future with confidence.”

Meanwhile, Kromek has outlined its involvement in two research projects that aim to use the company’s detection equipment to provide better breast screening programmes, working with Newcastle University, Newcastle Hospitals and University College London.

Dr Nerys Forester, consultant breast radiologist at Newcastle Hospitals, said: “We are delighted to be leading the next phase of testing low-dose MBI, working closely with Kromek and University College London. In future, we hope this technology could help us to identify breast cancer in women with dense breasts at an earlier stage and save more lives.”