LONDON (Alliance News) - Consort Medical PLC Thursday expressed confidence in meeting its expectations for its full year, as it reported a fall in pretax profit for its first half due to exceptional costs related to its acquisition of Aesica last year.
Consort Medical agreed to buy the European pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation for GBP230.0 million in September last year, and since then has worked to integrate the business with its own medical device development business, Bespak.
For the half year to end-October the company posted a pretax profit of GBP3.6 million, down from GBP7.3 million a year before, as a result of one-off costs related to the acquisition and integration of Aesica. However, the acquisition also led to a more than doubling of the company's revenue to GBP135.5 million from GBP53.6 million, of which Aesica contributed GBP79.1 million.
Revenue from the Bespak business rose 5.4% to GBP56.5 million from GBP53.6 million.
It proposed an interim dividend per share of 6.75 pence, up from 6.43 pence a year before.
"We continue to focus on the organic development of our business, but may consider further inorganic opportunities where they present a compelling case for significantly enhancing sustainable shareholder value. We currently have a strong development pipeline across both parts of the business, and its fruition looks set to drive meaningful growth in the near to medium term," said Chief Executive Officer Jon Glenn in a statement.
Shares in Consort Medical were down 1.4% at 995.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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