26th Mar 2014 12:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Alliance Pharma PLC raised its dividend as it saw pretax profit rise in 2013, benefiting from improved margins and growth in its Hydromol dermatology range.
Alliance Pharma declared Wednesday a final dividend of 0.605 pence per share, bringing its total dividend for 2013 to 0.908 pence per share, up from 0.825 pence.
The company posted a pretax profit of GBP12.0 million in 2013, up from GBP10.8 million in 2012, as revenue rose to GBP45.45 million from GBP44.9 million and sales costs declined to GBP18.1 million from GBP19.8 million. Gross margin improved to 60.3% from 55.9%, benefiting from sales of its higher-margin toxicology product.
However, Alliance Pharma expects this percentage to fall back in 2014 to levels closer to those seen in 2012.
Alliance Pharma said that despite revenue being hit by some headwinds, including production issues with its bladder cancer ImmuCyst product, products such as its Hydromol range boosted growth.
The company said the planned hand-back of nine products that it has been distributing for Novartis International AG were phased throughout the recent year, and are expected to be completed soon. The products generate around GBP500,000 in annual gross margin for Alliance Pharma, and it will receive a termination payment of around the same amount.
It cut back deliveries of its food supplement Forceval product in China during the year as lower than expected in-market revenue left its distributor overstocked. The in-market revenue has recovered somewhat, Alliance Pharma said, although there was an interruption in the supply of Forceval in the UK and other international markets as a move between contract manufacturers took longer than expected.
Alliance Pharma said it hopes to gain momentum for further acquisitions during 2014 and expressed confidence for good revenue and profit growth over the next few years.
Shares in Alliance Pharma were trading up 1.0% at 33.70 pence Wednesday midday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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