PURI.L Share News (PURI)

Germ killing technology developer PuriCore saw sales dip in the first six months of 2010 but said this was expected due to the macro economic challenges in the supermarket sector.Sales in the first half dipped to $18.9m, down 0.8% - or 1.4% at constant currency - from $19.1m in the first six months of 2009. Food safety sales slumped 43.2% to $7.2m from $12.6m the year before while endoscopy sales jumped 86.2% to $11.6m from $6.1m a year earlier.The dive in food safety sales was attributed to delays in adoption of Sterilox Food Safety Systems by supermarket chains in North America. In contrast, the endoscopy division's sales were boosted by the integration of Labcaire into the business."In our North American Food Safety division, our customers have suffered significant margin erosion and have reduced spending throughout 2009 and 2010. Despite such challenges, we have continued to gain market share, albeit not at the rate that we would have liked, and are delighted to announce that two more of the largest supermarket chains in North America have adopted our Sterilox System," said Chris Wightman, executive chairman of PuriCore.Notwithstanding the better performance in UK Endoscopy, the company anticipates delivering full-year sales, improvements in operating expense leverage, and gross profit margin across the business as a whole in line with market expectations.