Trading Update31 Jan 2018 10:42
Market share gains driving top line growth
Strong cash position sustained by good performance.
31 January 2017 Allergy Therapeutics plc (AIM:AGY), the fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical group specialising in allergy vaccines, today provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2017, ahead of its unaudited interim results to be announced on 7 March 2018.
Financials
The Group reports that it is trading in line with the Board's expectations. Reported revenues for the six months ended 31 December 2017 are expected to be �42.2m (2016: �40.4m), representing 4.4% growth on a reported basis and 1.3% growth at constant currency. The Group has continued to grow in the past six months of 2017, notwithstanding an abnormally weak pollen season in Central Europe1, outperforming the market by an average of 4 percentage points2 thanks to focused sales and marketing strategy and its exclusive technology platform. In Germany, the Group's market share has risen by one percentage point to 14% over the past twelve months on a moving annual average basis. The fastest growing operations for the Group in the six months ended 31 December 2017 were the Spanish subsidiary as well as the Emerging Markets segment.
By leveraging additional revenues on current infrastructure, the Group continues to improve its operational margins pre-R&D. This, along with careful planning of working capital and capex investments, has allowed the Group to maintain a strong cash position of �25.8m (31 December 2016: �27.8m).
Products
There continues to be increasing uptake of the Group's portfolio of convenient and patient-friendly treatments. Pre-seasonal ultrashort course aluminium free vaccine Pollinex Quattro, designed to address the cause of symptoms of patients sensitised to seasonal allergens (grass, trees, ragweed), remains a key growth driver for Allergy Therapeutics based on the benefits of the Group's treatment programs.
Venomil, the Group's product that treats the life threatening condition of venom allergy, grew strongly as well as Acarovac Plus3 which continued to outperform the rest of the portfolio in Spain.
Pipeline
The Group's Phase III PQ Birch trial has recently completed recruitment, with results expected in H2 2018. The successful completion of this pivotal Phase III study would fulfil the requirements for PQ Birch under the Therapieallergene-Verordnung (TAV) of the Paul Ehrlich Institute before anticipated marketing authorisation.
The PQ Grass Phase II trial continues to recruit on schedule with results also expected in H2 2018. Following completion of this trial, meetings with the regulatory authorities in the US and Germany will be necessary to enable Phase III trial design.