Aborted takeover hits Leicestershire firm’s profits

Sales and profits have slipped at Leicestershire-based x-ray firm Image Scan, which has had to call off its proposed acquisition of Todd Research at a cost of £245,000.

Image Scan announced in July that it was set to by the Cambridge developer and manufacturer of X-ray systems from Supply 999 Holdings for £3.25m, but had to abort the deal after failing to secure the backing of its largest shareholder, Rise Step International Development.

Meanwhile, a cancelled order also affected the company’s bottom line.

Sales at the firm dropped from £5m to £3.5m for the year ending September, while the company made a loss of £200,000.

Meanwhile, Image Scan has announced a number of personnel changes. Sarah Atwell-King, previously financial controller, will join the board as financial director, retaining her company secretary role.

A new operations manager is expected to join the company in November who will focus on manufacturing quality and new product development; and the European sales manager is being replaced with the incoming person focusing on sales growth in both Europe (including the UK) and South America.

Image Scan’s chairman and chief executive, Bill Mawer, said: “After three years of rapid growth in sales and profits, the cancelled order and the failure of the attempted acquisition have come as disappointments. A decline in portable X-ray orders has exacerbated this. While the instant increase in scale that the acquisition of Todd Research would have brought would have been welcome, our order pipeline is strong, and I am confident the changes to our team and the re-focus of our research and development efforts can return us to our previous growth path. I would like to welcome Sarah to her new, expanded role on the Board.”