(Alliance News) - InnovaDerma PLC on Tuesday said profit more than doubled in its most recent financial year, pushed higher by the strong performance of its UK direct-to-consumer platform and retail channels.
Shares in InnovaDerma jumped 19% to 91.80 pence in London in late morning trade.
The life sciences, beauty, and personal care products firm posted a GBP1.4 million pretax profit for its year ended June 30, over twice the GBP669,064 profit recorded the year before.
The most significant factor in this was revenue, which climbed 21% to GBP12.9 million from GBP10.7 million, helped by UK DTC and retail channels.
In terms of retail, InnovaDerma's SkinnyTan product became available in more than 2,000 UK stores after securing ranging in over 1,300 Boots stores. Its Roots haircare range also extended distribution to 1,800 UK stores from 400 the year before.
Of the DTC channel, Executive Chair Haris Chaudhry said: "In H1 2019, following changes in the Facebook algorithm, we implemented a new DTC strategy which encompasses complimentary channels such as Instagram, Google, Ad Roll and Taboola to provide us with depth and breadth of consumer engagement. This has enabled us to deliver strong growth of the DTC channel with our customer base growing by c.50% to more than 600,000. Our DTC channel also delivered a record number of orders in H2 2019 and revenue is up 22% on the previous year."
Chaudhry commented: "I am very pleased to report an excellent set of results and a year of strong operational progress. Despite retail headwinds, we have delivered an impressive 21% rise in revenue and doubled profit before tax with good gross margin improvement. Our performance has been supported by the disciplined execution of our strategy, continuous product innovation to disrupt our markets and leveraging consumer desire for unique and high performing products.
"We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, supported by a near term major launch in a new category, fast-growing retail footprint and with a robust foundation in place, the group is well placed to generate further growth. The year has started very positively, and current trading is in line with management's expectations."
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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