Animalcare Group's full-year revenues and profits in line with expectations

Veterinary medicines supplier Animalcare Group said its full-year results will be in line with market expectations driven by its licensed veterinary medicines division.The group's revenues rose 5.1% to £13.54m as sales of its licensed veterinary medicines increased 8.8% to £8.58m driven by the launch of new products.However, the companion animal identification division saw its revenues fall 4.5% to £2.31m due to the phasing of export equine chip sales.Animalcare said that despite UK sales volumes being up, net revenues were hurt by a national charity's free microchipping campaign.On the bright side, investment in product development is "bearing fruit", with three projects reaching milestones and being submitted for regulatory approval during the period.Following a new law which says dog owners must ensure their pets are microchipped by April 2016, the company has plans to grow microchip sales.So far, the company said there is little evidence that dog owners are responding to the law.Animalcare said in a statement: "Following the solid trading performance in the year, particularly from the Licensed Veterinary Medicines group, the Board remains confident about the prospects for the new financial year and is encouraged by the gaining momentum in the product development pipeline."Panmure analysts gave a 'buy' recommendation and 245p target price and added: " We view the company as a dividend paying, cash flow generative business at the start of investment phase to turn itself more upstream veterinary pharmaceutical development."Shares were down 1.5% to 219.5p on Thursday at 14:25.