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(Alliance News) - Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the first half, but affirmed its confidence in second half growth.
The Crawley, England-based medical technology company reported that revenue fell 0.5% to GBP20.4 million in the first half of 2023, from GBP20.5 million the year prior. It said core product growth was offset by regulatory delays for one of its partners' products, as well as destocking from a customer.
It noted that Neonatal revenue increased 4% to GBP16.1 million due to SLE6000 ventilator sales, while infusion revenue fell to GBP4.3 million, from GBP4.9 million as a result of destocking by a major customer.
The firm said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP140,000, from a profit of GBP885,000 a year ago.
Inspiration declared an interim dividend of 0.205 pence per share, unchanged from the year before.
Looking ahead, the company said it is confident in delivering growth in the second half of the year, noting its strong pipelines in both infusion and neonatal.
Chief Executive Neil Campbell said: "During the first six months we have seen underlying growth in our core neonatal and infusion businesses, driven by continued customer demand for our products. We also delivered significant improvements in our gross margins and operating cash flow placing the group in a stronger financial position.
"The headwinds seen in H1 are dissipating and with a strong pipeline of opportunities we are confident of returning to growth in the second half. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders for their continued support and we look forward to the future with optimism."
Inspiration Healthcare shares fell 1.5% to 42.34 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter
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