23rd Sep 2015 09:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - PuriCore PLC Wednesday reported a wider pretax loss in the first half of 2015, despite growth in revenue, as it took a hit to its gross margin due to higher service costs and investments it is making into the business.
Shares in PuriCore were trading down 18% at 21.00 pence Wednesday morning, one of the worst performers in the London market.
The biotechnology company said that its pretax loss in the six months ended June 30 widened to USD4.5 million from USD3.5 million in the first half of 2014, even though revenue grew to USD9.1 million from USD8.6 million.
Of this, supermarket retail revenue rose 9.3% to USD8.4 million from USD7.7 million, driven by higher sales of consumable products, but health sciences revenue decreased to USD0.3 million from USD0.9 million following the termination of its partnership agreement with Onset Dermatologics after it was bought by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2014.
PuriCore said that it expects supermarket retail revenue in the second half to "significantly exceed" the first half as it continues to invest in equipment reliability, research and development "and other key areas to drive long-term sustainable results".
Gross margin, however, decreased to 24.5% from 28.2%, as a result of the increased service costs within supermarket retail, and PuriCore said that operating expenses are expected to be higher in the full year than in the prior year due to the investments it is making.
"The company has not created significant value from its healthcare efforts to date; we are looking to change that. We are near the completion of a strategic review of our Health Sciences business and are very excited about areas where we can potentially leverage our technology to address unmet medical needs. We look forward to communicating our new business strategy and outlining our plans for execution in the first quarter of 2016," Chief Executive Alex Martin said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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