LONDON (Alliance News) - Omega Diagnostics Group PLC Monday posted a rise in pretax profit for the year to end-March, boosted by strong growth in its food intolerance products, as it prepares for commercialisation of its Visitect CD4 tests for infectious diseases.
The medical diagnostics company posted a pretax profit of GBP543,041, up from GBP276,224 in the previous year, as revenue rose to GBP11.6 million from GBP11.3 million.
Revenue growth was driven by a strong performance from the company's food intolerance division, boosted by 35% sales growth for its Food Detective products and 15% sales growth for its Genarrayt reagent products.
The company has continued to develop its programme to launch allergy tests on Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings PLC's IDS-iSYS automated analyser, although it noted that it has taken "longer to reach a marketable product than first anticipated."
During the year Omega Diagnostics established a UK facility for the production of Visitect CD4, and will shortly begin an interior build of a manufacturing base in Pune, India.
The company said its trading in the new financial year to-date is in line with expectations, with growth in food intolerance offsetting a decline in Allergy and Infectious Disease testing.
Omega expressed confidence for the new financial year as its Visitect CD4 test moves closer to commercialisation. The company said that the sales potential for the product is high, however, there are some hurdles to overcome including individual country evaluations and approvals.
"Our future landscape is brightened, as well as dominated, by the prospects for our Visitect CD4 test, which is now well into its field trials," said Chairman David Evans in a statement.
Whilst the company is confident for the prospects of the product, it remains cautious, noting that as the product's success will be primarily based on global tenders, it will be affected by the availability of funds and the needs of governments.
As a result of this uncertainty, the company said it had erred on the side of caution in terms of revenues and building its overhead base ahead of the products launch.
Shares in Omega Diagnostics were trading down 16%% at 23.82 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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