DPH.L Share News (DPH)

It was more of the same for Dechra Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter of its financial year as the first half's trends continued.The veterinary products group said group revenue in the first three months of 2011 - the third quarter of Dechra's financial year - was up 4.1% on the corresponding period of 2010.European products business revenue was up 5.1% year on year while revenue from the US pharmaceuticals division was 68.1% ahead of the year before, boosted by the DermaPet acquisition, which completed in October 2010. The services division increased revenues in the third quarter by 2.6%. Current trading remains in line with the board's expectations. "Divisional growth looks to be in line with our forecasts and management reports that trading is in line with expectations," noted broker finnCap. "The DermaPet acquisition is having a positive impact on US revenues, up 36.4% on the nine months to March 2010," the broker added.The broker has a "buy" recommendation and a 620p price target for the stock."For the past few months, Dechra's shares have traded between 480p and 520p with no trigger for them to break out of this trading range. At last night's close, they are around the mid-point of this range and for the longer-term investor represent a good entry point to this attractive growth stock," suggested finnCap analyst Keith Redpath.---jh