(Alliance News) - Consort Medical PLC on Tuesday said its interim profit was considerably smaller following an incident at its Aesica Cramlington manufacturing facility.
Consort's pretax profit for the six months ended October 31 was GBP1.2 million, far less than the GBP9.6 million profit posted the year before as revenue fell 4.3% to GBP146.0 million from GBP152.5 million.
This was primarily caused by the Cramlington incident, in which a small area of the Northumberland-based operating plant was damaged in what was described by Consort at the time as "the rapid thermal degradation of a chemical resulting in the expulsion of material and contamination of the facility".
This hurt the performance of its active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dose manufacturing unit, Aesica, where revenue fell 11% to GBP81.1 million from GBP90.9 million.
Bespak, Consort's drug delivery devices unit, was unaffected, with revenue up 5.4% at GBP64.9 million versus GBP61.6 million the year prior.
On November 18, following the end of its first half, contract development and manufacturing pharmaceutical company Consort agreed to a GBP505 million bid from Swedish peer Recipharm AB. Recipharm will pay 1,010 pence in cash for each Consort share. The proposed deal implies an enterprise value of GBP627 million for Consort.
Given that Recipharm may reduce its acquisition consideration if any dividend or other distribution is made by the Hemel Hempstead-based company, Consort has opted not to declare an interim dividend.
Consort Chief Executive Jonathan Glenn said: "The board's expectations for the full year remain unchanged. We anticipate that the group's performance in the second half of the year will benefit from continued growth in Bespak, recommencing manufacture of the specific product involved in the Cramlington incident and a reduction in the backlog at Aesica.
"The group is subject to a recommended offer from Recipharm Holdings Ltd. The board remains confident of Consort's future prospects."
Shares in Consort were down 0.5% at 1,040.00 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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