Animalcare’s profits in neutral after livestock diseases
ANIMAL diseases such as Blue Tongue and Foot and Mouth which hit British farmers last year took their toll on Animalcare's profits, the Yorkshire firm has said.
The Masham near Ripon-based animal tagging and healthcare business, which changed its name from Ritchey to Animalcare earlier this year after the reverse takeover of the former Genus subsidiary, reported that company profits for the six months ended December 2007 were almost “neutral”.
The firm said it had made a small loss after tax of £5,000 versus a small profit of £110,00 during the same period the year before.Revenue was £3.4m compared to £3.6m.
It added that trading in the second half of the year was traditionally slower with first half results boosted by the April to January lambing season.
However, Animalcare, which moved from the junior PLUS Markets stock exchange to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in January following the £14m in November 2007, said that thanks to signs of improvement in the livestock sector the year's outlook was “favourable and in line with market expectations”.
“The livestock industry has shown encouragin signs of improvement across recent months behind increased trading volumes and higher livestock selling prices,” said James Lambert, Animalcare's chairman.
“However, the trading environment remains highly challenging with significant reductions in livestock numbers anticipated.”
The firm, which is perhaps best known for supplying animal tags, said that the acquisition of Animalcare would help it focus on the relatively stable and growing animal care maket, broaden its portfolio for a wider range of animals and help balance the business against seasonal fluctuations.
Animalcare made operating profits of £1.6m in the year to June 30 and had net assest of £6.7m. Hampshire-based Genus uses biotechnology to improve breeding in dairy and beef cattle as well as pigs.
