IDH.L Share News (IDH)

The chairman of Immunodiagnostic Systems has decided to follow the company's chief executive (CEO) and step down after the AIM-listed firm's declining first-half revenues and profits highlighted the difficulties affecting its strategy.Half-year results, which had been previewed by the group in mid-October, showed a 15% decline in revenue, with a 9% decline in revenues from its automated laboratory diagnostic tests to £10.3m and a 39% decline in manual Vitamin D revenues that led to a 31% overall decline in manual revenues to £7.9m.Adjusted basic earnings per share was down 46% to 8.3p and closing cash was £22.7m.The fall in automated revenue was due to a number of labs in both France and the US returning instruments that only focused on Vitamin D testing, together with a general pricing pressure on the automated Vitamin D assay market."The near-term trading conditions for the group remain challenging but we strongly believe that the path to sustainable growth is through execution of the group's strategic plan," said CEO Patrik Dahlen, who announced his resignation on Monday."We will continue to pursue our two key objectives of increasing the breadth and depth of our assay menu and launching the Mark II IDS-iSYS instrument and we look forward to keeping shareholders updated on further progress in these areas."Only a net eight instruments were placed directly, down from 16, and the total placed directly or via distributors and sold to OEM partners was only 15, down from 45 in the comparable period.Broker N+1 Singer said placements of instruments was "poor" too, but this had been expected following the company's earlier profit warnings."The strategic plan appeared to have started to make an impact with some assay registration in the new geographies and the further cost cutting underway. More importantly, the timing of the Mark II instrument which should make a significant difference to the business is unchanged. However, with the resignation of the CEO and Chairman, all this may change."