Turnover climbs to £482m for listed pharmaceutical business
Veterinary pharmaceutical business Dechra has seen its total revenues rise to £482m, though its pre-tax profits dipped.
The company, which has its manufacturing base in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and its head office in Northwich, Cheshire, today released its audited preliminary results for the year ending 30 June 2019.
These show pre-tax profits of £27.8m, compared to £28.9m in 2018. However, revenue was up £17.5%, hitting £482m, compared to 2018’s £407.1m.
And underlying operating profit growth was up 27.3%, to £127.4 million.
Ian Page, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The Group has delivered another strong performance throughout the financial year.
“We have continued to outperform in almost all markets in which we operate and strategically it has also been an excellent year.
“Our pipeline has delivered new products and has been significantly enhanced with new technology; geographically we have extended our footprint through the acquisition of Laboratorios Vencofarma do Brasil Ltda (Venco) and we have successfully integrated the acquisitions completed in the previous financial year.
“Our Australian, New Zealand and recently acquired Brazilian businesses are outperforming our expectations.
“Sales through third party marketing partners have been marginally slower than expected; clearly demonstrating our ability to drive products under our control and under the Dechra brand to a higher level.
“This supports our international expansion strategy, which can be demonstrated through the acquisitions in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil over the last few years.”
Page said the firm was getting ready for the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
He added: “In preparation for a potential hard Brexit, we have changed the ownership of all UK marketing authorisations to a newly established subsidiary in the Netherlands.
“We have also transferred all the analytical testing methods for products manufactured at our Skipton site to a new laboratory in Zagreb, Croatia, and to our existing laboratory at our Bladel manufacturing site.
“This will allow us to perform batch release within the EU in the likely event that there will be no mutual recognition of quality standards.
“We have increased inventory in the supply chain to mitigate the potential delays at ports. We do not expect any material effect from the potential import or export tariffs.
“Our strong growth, both organic and through acquisition, and our broadening product portfolio and increasing geographic reach positions us well for continued growth in this new financial year and beyond.
“Despite challenges from supply chain issues, the outlook for the year ahead remains in line with management expectations.”
