Animalcare Group plc (AIM: ANCR), the pan-European Animal Health business, announces its interim results for the financial period ended 30th June 2018.
Financial Highlights
- Pro-forma revenue growth of 6.4% at AER (4.8% CER) to £47.8m (2017: £44.9m)
- Pro-forma underlying* EBITDA (excluding non-underlying items) increased by 5.1% to £6.3m (2017: £6.0m) reflecting improved translation of revenue growth through to profit through both focus on gross margin and cost control
- £1.6m net cash generated from operations including a cash outflow from non-underlying items totaling £0.8m
- 76.7% increase in statutory net profit to £3.7m (2017: £2.1m) from total operations, resulting in basic underlying EPS of 6.2 pence (2017: 8.9 pence)
- Proposed interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share, recognising the need to transition to a payment structure that reflects the change of year end to December
o Total dividends per share since the reverse acquisition to 8.7 pence per share
Operational Highlights (including post-period)
- Completed sale of Medini NV, Animalcare’s wholesaling company, to Vetdis Holding for a total consideration of up to approximately £2.65 million
o Sale consistent with Group’s goal to focus on higher-margin veterinary pharmaceuticals business
o Proceeds to be used initially to improve the Group’s debt position and provide further support for product development, both organically and through strategic acquisitions - Strengthened management team with appointment of Jenny Winter as Chief Executive Officer of the Group from 1st October 2018
- Restructured UK commercial team, in response to corporate consolidation of veterinary clinics in the UK, with greater focus on supporting larger corporate customers as well as continuing to provide strong service levels to independent practices.
- Received positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary European Medicines for a centralised registration for a new product (Cortacare), which will be launched in the UK in Q4 2018
- Decentralised procedures for four new products submitted during the period with a further two planned in H2 2018. These six new products expected to be launched across a number of territories in 2019.
*underlying measures are before the effect of non-underlying items which excludes fair value adjustments on acquired inventory, amortisation of acquired intangibles and acquisition and integration costs
Jan Boone, Chairman of Animalcare Group plc, commenting on the results said: “Our focus is to become a leading pan-European animal health company and delivering maximum future value for our shareholders. Over the first half we have made good progress in line with this as well as improving the overall profitability of the Group. The sale of our Wholesale Division was an important further step in the process and underlines our strategy to concentrate resources on our higher-margin veterinary pharmaceuticals business, which we believe will continue to be the main driver growth in the business. This is an exciting time for Animalcare and we look forward to working with Jenny, our newly appointed CEO and presenting a further update on the Group’s integration and growth strategy in due course.”
animalcare-grp