IDH.L Share News (IDH)

Immunodiagnostic Systems, a producer of manual and automated specialist diagnostic testing kits, has announced the immediate departure of its Chief Executive Officer, Ian Cookson. The company said it is now looking for a candidate who has "substantial diagnostic and international industry experience" and hopes to announce a new CEO in the near future.The firm underwent a successful restructuring programme during the last quarter of the financial year in an effort to reduce its cost base in non-market facing operational areas. However, the group halved its pre-tax profits despite revenues coming in £3.5m higher at £53.67m. Regionally, revenues rose 19% in the US, but declined 2.1% in Rest of World (non-Europe and US). Profit before tax fell from £16.5m to £7.2m, pushed lower by operating expenses and charges relating non-recurring items, while basic earnings per share plunged from 46.1p to 16.7p, principally due to the non-recurring costs and the change in accounting estimates. The dividend for the year was increased from 2.50p to 2.75p following a period of strong cash generation. In a statement the company said: "Trading for the first three months of the current financial year is in line with management expectations and we have continued to place additional IDS-iSYS systems. More recently we have secured new accounts for both our automated IDS-iSYS test for 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D and also for our new hypertension assays launched within the past few weeks. "We are working hard to continue to build the company and increase shareholder value in what is a challenging business environment. Despite the much more competitive market, we have increased our vitamin D revenues while at the same time diversifying the product range to broaden the appeal of the IDS-iSYS system and reduce the influence of changes in the vitamin D market. "Costs are being continuously monitored to ensure resources are targeted at the key drivers for the business which are development productivity and niche marketing and sales activities to target the customer base benefiting most from the group's products." The share price fell 7.14% to 260p by 12:53. NR