18th Aug 2015 07:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - Medical device company Akers Biosciences Inc on Tuesday posted a widened pretax loss for the first half of 2015, mostly as a result of lower revenue and increased investment in its sales and marketing.
For the half year to end-June, the company posted a pretax loss of USD3.4 million, widened from a loss of USD1.1 million a year before, as a result of a fall in revenue to USD1.5 million from USD2.5 million, and a rise in sales and marketing expenses.
The company attributed the fall in revenue to a initial stocking order for its Tri-Cholesterol 'Check' tests in the first half of the previous year that did not repeat, and a hit to sales of its BreathScan breathalyzer products following the French government's decision to indefinitely postpone a fine that was to be imposed for drivers failing to possess breathalyzers in their vehicles.
Akers said that the benefit of its expanded sales team is "beginning to be felt" as domestic sales of its rapid tests for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia grew 44% in the first half compared to the previous year. It said it is confident this product will see a "significantly stronger second half".
Additionally, Akers saw a rise in demand from new customers for its alcohol breathalyzer product following the loss of its revenue stream in France, and said it has a "healthy pipeline of orders from the EU for this product through the remainder of the year".
"While we have good revenue visibility through the remainder of the year in our core business, the company's ability to meet full revenue expectations for the year remains partially dependent on the timing of large stocking orders from international distributors like those in China, which are influenced by external factors such as regulatory approvals," said Executive Chairman and Co-Founder Raymond Akers Jr in a statement.
"We are confident that such orders will materialize but there can be no certainty over their timing," Akers added.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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