Truetide PLC Reports Narrowed Pre-Tax Loss and Strategic Progress, Including Promising Parkinson’s and Lung Cancer Tests

Truetide’s holding in Autins was carried at £1,270,720 at 31 March 2026, up from £1,111,880 a year earlier. In plain English, this is the sort of portfolio company that can support the wider valuation and give credibility to the investment case.

Imaging Biometrics has clinical promise, but it is still early

Imaging Biometrics is a more speculative healthcare story, but there was clearly encouraging news. Phase 1 trial results for oral gallium maltolate in recurrent glioblastoma showed the treatment was safe and well tolerated.

The median overall survival for 22 patients was 16 months, with median progression-free survival of 2.5 months. The company says the results justify a statistically powered Phase 2 trial, and it plans to reactivate its Expanded Access Programme for up to 20 additional patients.

That is positive, but retail investors should keep their feet on the ground. Phase 1 is mainly about safety, not proof of commercial success. Promising is the right word here – not proven.

Image Scan adds another decent operational signal

Image Scan also chipped in some good news, including a substantial contract to supply 25 ThreatScan portable X-ray systems to a European government defence organisation. For a small specialist supplier, wins like that matter because they show product relevance and support the order book.

Paraytec Parkinson’s test and lung cancer breath test: exciting optionality, but still speculative

This is where the RNS gets more interesting. Truetide still carries Paraytec at £Nil, yet management is now talking about a “renaissance” with three live development programmes.

That creates a slightly unusual setup. The market can value the listed holdings today, but Paraytec offers upside that is not reflected in the stated 3.7p per share listed-investments NAV.

Why Paraytec could matter

• It is working on a point-of-care test for bacteraemia, linked to sepsis diagnosis.
• It has completed proof-of-concept work on an alpha-synuclein assay aimed at Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and multiple system atrophy.
• It has started an early collaboration with VosBio on a non-invasive lung cancer detection test using exhaled breath.

On paper, that is exactly the sort of portfolio asset that can change sentiment quickly if technical progress turns into commercial traction. The Parkinson’s angle in particular sounds genuinely interesting because diagnosis in this area is still difficult and often late.

That said, this is still early-stage science and instrumentation work. There are no revenues from these programmes disclosed, no valuation uplift booked, and the lung cancer collaboration is described as being at the feasibility and biomarker validation stage with extensive further research and regulatory work still to come.

So yes, there is upside. But no, you should not treat it as banked value. Management is right to highlight the opportunity, but investors should remember why the asset is still carried at zero.

Truetide balance sheet, cash position and share dilution: better, but not exactly plush

The balance sheet is stable rather than strong. Net assets dipped to £2.216 million from £2.330 million, although cash improved to £150,596 from £63,671 and there were no material borrowings.

That cash increase partly reflects £279,594 raised through issuing shares, net of costs. The number of ordinary shares in issue rose to 78,473,489 from 63,723,489, so shareholders did see dilution.

That is an important point. Truetide is still a small investment company with modest cash resources and ongoing central costs. Employee benefits were £239,577 and other operating and finance costs were £259,000, against revenue from contracts with customers of just £13,941.

In other words, this is not a self-funding machine. It depends on portfolio value creation, selective disposals and, at times, fresh capital.

Investment performance was less bad, not brilliant

The fair value movement on investments was a loss of £17,918, which is far better than last year’s £408,681 loss. There was also a profit on disposal of investments of £114,811.

But the portfolio value still fell to £1.977 million from £2.271 million at the year end. The uplift in Autins of £159,000 and Built Cybernetics of £81,000 was partly offset by valuation reductions in Image Scan of £30,000 and Imaging Biometrics of £228,000.

What this Truetide RNS means for retail investors

My take is that this is a cautiously positive update. The numbers are improving, the listed portfolio is showing more life, and Paraytec gives Truetide a free option of sorts because it is valued at nil in the accounts.

The bullish case is pretty straightforward. If Autins keeps executing, Imaging Biometrics advances its clinical story, and Paraytec turns technical progress into something commercial, the gap between Truetide’s share price and underlying asset value could start to matter more.

The bear case is also easy to see. The group is still loss-making, cash is limited, the share price KPI fell to 1.60p from 5.00p, and a lot of the excitement sits in early-stage projects that may take years to prove out – if they ever do.

So this is not a low-risk turnaround. It is a small, high-risk investment vehicle with a more credible portfolio than it had a year ago. For existing shareholders, that is progress. For new investors, the key question is whether you believe the hidden value in Paraytec will ever become real value.

Right now, Truetide looks more investable than it did last year. But it still needs more hard evidence, not just interesting science and encouraging portfolio commentary.