Vet supplier brushes off Brexit fears to hail strong first half

ANIMALCARE, the veterinary medicines supplier, has hailed a “very” strong first half performance, boosted by its decision to accelerate investment in new products despite the uncertainty of Brexit.

Providing an update for the first six months of its financial year, the group said it expects that trading for the year ending June 30 2017 will be ahead of current market expectations.

Trading during the period has been ahead of the board’s expectations in both sales and profit, which saw revenue growth of 12% versus the same period last year to £7.97m (2015: £7.11m).

The Licensed Veterinary Medicines group continued to grow strongly in the first half with revenues increasing 17.2% to £5.37m (2015: £4.58m), driven by growth in the UK of 14.6% and outside the UK of 37.7%.

Sales from new products launched in the period contributed around £0.20m, or 4%, of the overall 17.2% growth. Gross margins have improved versus the prior year through a combination of favourable sales mix and cost of goods initiatives.

Sales from the Animal Welfare Products group improved by 13.4% to £1.51m (2016: £1.34m) driven by continued strong growth of our infusion accessories range.

The Companion Animal Identification group revenues decreased by 9.2% to £1.09m (2016: £1.20m). Animalcare said that following the introduction of compulsory microchipping of dogs in the UK in April, it expected and observed a reduction in microchip volumes, which it expects to last into the medium-term.  

Four products were launched in the first half and the company expects that there will be two further product launches in the second half, both on distribution from EU partners and both for use with companion animals.

The company said: “Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, the board took the decision to accelerate investment in new products on the strength of continued positive trading momentum and the Group’s strong financial position. We are pleased to report good progress in our product development pipeline, in particular with regard to the identification of novel formulations which, as previously stated, are strategic focus for the group.”

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