LONDON (Alliance News) - Pharmaceutical firm Vectura Group PLC on Tuesday said its loss narrowed in the first half of 2018 as it reduced operating costs.
Pretax loss narrowed to GBP29.9 million in the six months to June 30 compared to GBP44.5 million loss reported a year ago, as revenue rose marginally to GBP79.9 million from GBP78.8 million.
During the period, Vectura reduced its selling & marketing expenses to GBP1.5 million from GBP2.1 million, while research & development costs were lowered to GBP25.3 million versus GBP31.4 million the year prior.
Corporate & administrative expenses grew slightly to GBP5.6 million from GBP5.4 million the year before, but finance costs fell sharply to GBP200,000 from GBP1.5 million.
Meanwhile, revenue from the inhaled products portfolio grew by 7.1% to GBP64.7 million, driven by the acceleration of royalties from the GSK Ellipta products. In addition, Vectura said it recognised GBP2.4 million in licence revenue from the AirFluSal Forspiro product and a GBP1.3 million contractual milestone payment for its Breelib product.
However, most of the products in Vectura's oral and non-inhaled portfolio are in the mature to declining phase of their lifecycle, the company said. As a result, revenue in this segment fell by 17% to GBP15.2 million.
In order to mitigate the impact from lifecycle decline, the company said it transitioned its oral tablet production facility in Lyon, France from a partner that was manufacturing only to a partner that will manufacture and distribution.
"Vectura is regaining momentum after a challenging 2017," said Chief Executive James Ward-Lilley.
"With positive in-market momentum and additional pipeline catalysts, we look forward to delivering against our strategy in the second half of 2018, and we maintain our full-year guidance," added Ward-Lilley.
Shares in Vectura were trading 1.2% higher on Tuesday at 74.90 pence each.
