Herpes and warts specialist Henderson Morley lost £776,000 last year and says it hopes for a licencing deal this month.

Birmingham-based Henderson reduced it loss by nearly £73,000 in the year to April and raised £250,000 from investors willing to back the company's Ionic Contra Viral Therapy (ICVT) technology, which is designed to tackle various forms of herpes, warts and verrucae. Chairman Andrew Knight says AIM-quoted Henderson 'expects' to conclude a worldwide licencing agreement with 'a European dermatological company' by the end of July.

That agreement would cover ICVT's application to genital and labial herpes and certain other conditions. Henderson has also been talking to a similarly un-named US dermatological and pharmaceutical concern about licencing the use of ICVT in treating non-genital warts, verrucae and other skin complaints.

According to Knight, the deadline for concluding these negotiations has been extended from yesterday to 17 August. He adds that Henderson is continuing to develop further applications for ICVT.

The company ended its financial year with cash down from £689,000 to £261,500, but replenished its coffers in May with a £450,000 placing at 2.5p. That price was well down on the company's 2001 AIM float price of 4p and its high last March of 5.78p, but several times last August's 0.43p low.

Now 4.1p, valuing the company at £16.5 million, Henderson Morley shares are a punt on the successful outcome of these talks.

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