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LONDON (Alliance News) - Pharmaceutical services group Consort Medical PLC on Thursday said its annual pretax profit more than doubled thanks to the contribution from acquisition Aesica, which also meant revenue grew by half.

Consort said pretax profit for the financial year to April 30 was GBP11.2 million, more than double the GBP5.5 million made a year earlier, as revenue rose 50% to GBP276.9 million from GBP184.1 million. Both profit and revenue were boosted by Aesica, the pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation that Consort bought for GBP230.0 million in November 2014.

Consort reported revenue and margin growth across its divisions in the year, with its Bespak medical device development business having secured two new development programmes and encouraging progress on adjoining the service offerings of Bespak and Aesica.

Consort said it will pay a final dividend of 12.56 pence, up 7.5% year-on-year. Its total payout will rise to 19.31p from 18.11p.

Consort Chief Executive Jon Glenn said he remains confident Consort will meet its growth expectations for the current financial year and said its "development and innovation programmes are also providing a healthy pipeline for future organic growth".

Elsewhere, Consort said progress has been made on the DEV610 development programme run by Bespak, a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Advair asthma treatment. Mylan, the US pharmaceutical company behind the new product, has been given a potential approval date for the drug of March 2017.

Consort said the development programme for the new inhaler is a significant opportunity for the Bespak business, which has had to build a 5,500 square metre dedicated building and clean room at its site in King's Lynn to accommodate the necessary manufacturing capacity.

"This contract with Mylan further leverages its operational and regulatory expertise in the production of high volume, premium-quality drug delivery devices, and represents a further example of execution of Consort's strategy for diversified organic growth," Glenn added.

Shares in Consort were up 0.8% to 960.00p.

By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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