30th Nov 2015 10:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Omega Diagnostics Group PLC on Monday said it is putting together a three-to-five year business plan to take advantage of opportunities to grow parts of the business, and reported a fall in first-half pretax profit.
The medical diagnostics company, which targets allergy, food intolerance and infectious disease, said that Colin King has been reviewing Omega Diagnostics' operations since he became chief operating officer on August 3.
Pretax profit fell to GBP177,360 in the six months ended September 30, compared with GBP208,418 the corresponding half the prior year, as higher revenue was more than offset by more administration costs. Revenue rose 8.1% to GBP6.2 million from GBP5.7 million a year before.
Meanwhile, the company said it has found a potential solution to the cause the "ambient temperature effect" on Visitect CD4 - a disposable, rapid test designed to test whether people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) can be moved onto antiretroviral treatment.
In July, the company had found a stability issue with Visitect CD4 after five weeks of storage at room temperature.
"We are systematically progressing with all the potential variables regarding our Visitect CD4 programme. There are no short-cuts and inevitably this takes time to progress, with each experiment yielding information which we continue to build on. One has to believe that this systematic process will yield a positive end-result but there are no guarantees," Chairman David Evans said in a statement.
"We remain confident overall for the growth prospects for the company and far from being a one product company, we have significant tangible growth prospects, particularly in the area of food intolerance given the greater understanding of the gut microbiome and the interaction between the food we eat and our general well-being," Evans added.
Elsewhere, Omega Diagnostics' automated allergy product offering is approaching the point at which the company can begin to earn a commercial return, according to Evans.
Shares in Omega Diagnostics were up 3.2% at 16.00 pence on Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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