LONDON (Alliance News) - Healthcare company BTG PLC Tuesday reported higher pretax profit for the first half of its financial year, driven by acquisitions in its interventional medicine unit and strong growth in its specialty pharmaceuticals business, and said it now expects full-year revenue to be at the top end of its guidance range.
It also said it expects the first-half momentum to continue into the second half, and it's on the look out for more acquisitions in both interventional medicine and specialty pharmaceuticals.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP37.6 million for the six months to end-September, up from GBP32.7 million a year earlier, as revenue grew by a quarter to GBP191.2 million, from GBP153.0 million.
Revenue grew 78% to GBP51.8 million in its interventional medicine unit, driven by its acquisitions of EKOS and TheraSphere, and as it reported its first revenue from Varithena following the start of commercial treatments in August.
"The controlled US launch of Varithena is progressing well and initial feedback from physicians is encouraging," Chief Executive Louise Makin said.
It said revenue grew 11% to GBP77.8 million in its specialty pharmaceuticals unit, driven by sales growth for DigiFab and Voraxaze.
BTG also reported 15% growth in licensing revenue to GBP61.6 million, driven by strong growth in Zytiga.
"Overall, we are in a good position to deliver our organic growth plans and achieve our 2021 vision for the business while continuing to explore opportunities to expand our portfolio," CEO Makin said.
BTG said it now expects full-year revenue to be at the top end of its guidance range of between GBP330 million to GBP345 million, despite currency movements going against it.
The company's 2021 target is to achieve over USD1 billion of interventional medicine sales. Growth in the business will be supported by cash generation from the specialty pharmaceuticals and licensing businesses.
"We expect the momentum from the first half of the year to continue into the second as we deliver on our growth strategy. In addition to this organic growth, we continue to review external acquisition opportunities both in Interventional Medicine and Specialty Pharmaceuticals," the company said in its outlook statement.
BTG shares were up 2.6% at 759.28 pence early Tuesday, one of the best-performing stocks on the FTSE 250.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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