Pre-close trading update & No

RNS Number : 7705Z

Animalcare Group PLC

20 January 2011

 



20 January 2011

Animalcare Group plc

Pre-close trading update & Notice of results

Animalcare Group plc ("the Group" or "Animalcare"), a leading supplier of veterinary medicines, announces that the Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 31 December 2010 will be released on Thursday 17 February 2011 and the Board issues the following trading update ahead of publication.

Trading update

In September Animalcare announced a number of disposals focussing the Group on the core veterinary medicines business, Animalcare Ltd. The underperforming and marginally profitable agriculture business was sold to Tru-Test of New Zealand and the loss making cleaning products formulations unit, Travik Chemicals, was sold to Aquajet Holdings.

The proceeds of these sales and the continued strong performance of the veterinary medicines business of Animalcare Ltd, have allowed the Group to reduce significantly its levels of outstanding loans to £1.0 million (down from £4.46 million at June 30 2010) and at 31 December 2010 the business was net cash positive.

Revenue in the core veterinary medicines business for the six months to 31 December 2010 was approximately 10% ahead of the equivalent period last year. Performance has been good within all product categories with revenue in the New Products (pharmaceuticals) group ahead of the previous year by around 28% and revenue from all other products groups approximately 6% ahead of the same period last year.

New product development continues to meet its targets with the launch of two new products in September 2010 and the launch of two third party distributed products planned for early Q1 2011. The development programme for three other key products remained on track during the period with one product now at the half way stage in its European regulatory evaluation. The other two regulatory dossiers have progressed to the point of completion and final internal review before regulatory submission.

Summary

The disposal of the Group's agriculture and related businesses has brought clarity to the Group's strategy and helped to continue the strong performance of the veterinary medicines business. The development and sale of generic medicines for companion animals continues to accelerate growth of the Group. The Board is confident that the short and medium term pipeline of new products is strong and the business will make good progress in the remainder of the financial year.

For further information, please contact:

Animalcare Group plc
Stephen Wildridge (Chief Executive)	01904 487 601
Brewin Dolphin (NOMAD)
Neil Baldwin	0845 213 4726
Walbrook PR Ltd	020 7933 8787
Paul McManus	07980 541 893
	[e-mail]

 

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