Celsis records strong sales growth in 1H; In Vitro acquisition bedding in
Celsis International plc (CEL.L) the life sciences products and laboratory services company, said today that revenues were up 29% to $20.13m in the six months to end September and that pre-tax profits at $3.99m were 12% higher than the corresponding period in 2005.
Revenue from the Analytical Services Division grew 35% to $9.96m as the recently expanded New Jersey business continued to accelerate and the St Louis business rebounded from last year's temporary slowdown.
Revenues in the Rapid Detection Division were slightly off, by 1%, at $8.20m, as a result of a temporary slow down in instrument sales during the first half. This was due to recent industry consolidations and delayed capital expenditure.
However, the division is now showing signs of a stronger second half. The division, which provides rapid microbial detection systems, represented 45% of total organic Group revenues in the first half.
The recently acquired In Vitro Technologies (IVT) division added $1.96m in revenues since 20 July 2006.
CEO Jay LeCoque (pictured) said: "We look forward to continued growth from further synergies and the cross selling opportunities from IVT that have yet to be realised.
“As the need for managing costs in the global healthcare industry accelerates, Celsis has strengthened its strategy to offer customers the opportunity to save both time and money. [We are] well positioned for further revenue and profit growth and I remain enthusiastic about prospects for the full year."
Celsis announced the acceptance of its Drug Master File (DMF) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its pharmaceutical reagent kits. It has been working with the FDA to enable pharmaceutical companies to secure regulatory approval more easily for its rapid detection systems.
The DMF greatly streamlines the FDA approval process for customers as it can now be used as a pre-accepted point of reference for companies' FDA filings.
In Vitro Technologies
The Company said the integration of IVT was progressing to plan and the business was showing good growth.
The Analytical Services business development team has been trained to introduce IVT's drug development services to their pharmaceutical and biotechnology customer base and we have started to see initial success from this cross selling activity. IVT remains a leader in the field of ADME-Tox in vitro diagnostic products used to help screen the growing number of drug compounds used in pre-clinical drug discovery and development.
Mr LeCoque said that with the cash generation continuing as planned, “we expect to pay down an increasing portion of the long term debt at an earlier stage than our loan agreement stipulates and thereby continue to strengthen the Balance Sheet”.
In early trading, the company’s share price slid 1.8%, or 3.5p to 195.5p, valuing the company at £44m.
8th November 2006
