(Alliance News) - Horizon Discovery Group PLC on Monday said its loss narrowed in the first half of 2019, helped by strong performance from Bio-production and Screening business units.
Bio-production revenue surged to GBP2.8 million in the six months ended June 30 from GBP1.1 million, while Screening revenue increased 39% to GBP4.3 million from GBP3.1 million. This helped push total company revenue up 14% to GBP28.6 million from GBP25.1 million.
As a result of this, pretax loss for the first half fell 22% to GBP6.1 million from GBP7.8 million.
The company said trading in the second half has been strong so far and annual revenue is set to be second-half weighted and in line with market expectations. Horizon also said it is trading in line with expectations for 2019 as a whole.
Chief Executive Terry Pizzie said: "I am pleased to report that the business is on track to complete the delivery of the productivity and eCommerce initiatives that we are implementing as part of our Investing for Growth strategy. We expect these investments to generate significant payback in the short and long-term, by reducing costs, increasing capacity and operating leverage, whilst also opening up new avenues of growth."
"With our traditional second-half weighting and strong order book for the remainder of 2019, we are well positioned to deliver on our strategy, as we continue to transform Horizon from a scientifically-led business, into a fully commercial tools and services company with industrialised processes and customer-directed R&D."
Shares in Horizon Discovery were up 1.7% at 140.28 pence in London on Monday.
