7th Mar 2016 07:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - Abcam PLC on Monday expressed confidence in achieving its targets for its full year, as it reported a small fall in pretax profit for its first half, and said Chief Operating Officer Jim Warwick plans to retire by the end of 2016.
The company will not replace Warwick in the COO role. Instead, the company's Innovation & Manufacturing, IT, Operations and Human Resources segment will be restructured, it said.
The life science research tools supplier proposed an interim dividend of 2.354 pence, up from 2.29p the previous year.
Abcam reported a pretax profit of GBP20.9 million for the financial half year to end-December, down from GBP22.1 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to GBP78.8 million from GBP66.7 million was offset by higher research and development expenses, an increase in administrative costs, and GBP939,000 in system and process improvement costs.
The company saw growth in all of its regions, including a particularly strong performance in the Americas, China and the rest of Asia Pacific. The company said it had continued to make progress in securing market leadership in China, although there has been some moderation in growth as its business there becomes more established.
"We have delivered strong revenue performance whilst investing in the next chapter of Abcam's growth. There is significant momentum in the business as we continue our focus on high value targets and revenue growth in China," said Abcam Chief Executive Officer Alan Hirzel in a statement.
"With this first half performance and our traditionally seasonally weighted second half, I am confident we will achieve our targets for the full year," Hirzel added.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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