LONDON (Alliance News) - BTG PLC Thursday raised its revenue guidance for the financial year that just ended for a second time, and also said it expects revenue to grow strongly at constant currency rates in the current year.
Its shares rose 5.6% to 779.00 pence Thursday morning, making it the best-performing stock in the FTSE 250 on the day.
The healthcare company said it now expects revenue for the year to March 31 to be above the previous guidance it gave of GBP345 million to GBP360 million, including revenue from the PneumRx acquisition that was completed in early January.
It then expects revenue to grow strongly in the current financial year to between GBP410 million and GBP440 million on a constant currency basis.
BTG had already raised its guidance for the year to March 31 in February. Its previous guidance was for revenue to be between GBP330 million and GBP345 million, although it had said last November it would be at the top end of that range.
It said Thursday it will book GBP8 million of acquisition-related costs in the financial year that just ended, as well as the GBP8 million of costs it had previously reported related to the settlement of the CroFab litigation, meaning total exceptional costs for the year are expected to be GBP16 million.
The company said its integration of PneumRx is on track, and it is pleased with progress.
Speciality Pharmaceuticals outperformed the company's mid-to-high single digit growth guidance, boosted by a steady performance from snake bite treatment CroFab, digoxin toxicity treatment DigiFab and continued growth for high-dose methotrexate toxicity product Voraxaze.
Licensing revenues were driven by growth in royalties from Johnson & Johnson's advanced prostate cancer treatment Zytiga.
In its Interventional Medicine arm, the company is continuing to launch its varicose veins treatment Varithena in the US reimbursed sector. The first commercial treatments took place last August, and physician and patient feedback has been encouraging.
"The business is well supported by the financial underpin we receive from our Speciality Pharmaceutical and Licensing segments, and overall we are in a good position to deliver our organic growth plans and achieve our 2021 vision," said Chief Executive Officer Louise Makin in a statement.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
Updated by Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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