10th Apr 2019 11:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - Plant Health Care PLC on Wednesday said its loss widened in 2018, but revenue grew on strong performance in Americas.
The biological products provider's pretax loss widened in 2018 to USD7.9 million compared to USD5.7 million reported a year earlier, as administrative expenses jumped to USD5.6 million from USD1.8 million.
Meanwhile, revenue rose by 5.8% to USD8.1 million from USD7.7 million the year before, as a result of strong growth in the Americas segment, which includes activities in both North and South America but excludes Mexico.
Revenue in the Americas more than doubled to USD3.3 million from USD1.6 million in 2017, primarily due to increased sales of Harpin ab in corn in North America and sugar cane in South America.
Meanwhile, a significant portion of Plant Health Care's revenue continues to come from Mexico, where revenue increased by 10% in local currency to USD3.1 million, helped by the rebound of produce prices.
Revenue in the Rest of World segment decreased, however, by 46% to USD1.7 million from USD3.2 million the year prior, due to slower draw-down of in-market inventory in South Africa, partially offset by a sales increase of 16% in Spain.
"Plant Health Care continued to make good progress in 2018, under challenging conditions," said Executive Chair & Interim Chief Executive Chris Richards.
"The company's cash reserves remain sufficient to take us to cash positive in 2020," added Richards.
Plant Health Care shares were trading 7.0% higher on Wednesday at 6.85 pence each.
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