A Northumberland pharmaceutical firm has seen its turnover jump by £3m but an explosion at the factory is set to wipe £5m off its parent company’s profits.
Cramlington’s Aesica Pharmaceuticals generated £26.1m in turnover for the year ending April 30 2019, up from the £23.1m it made during 2018.
The company’s strong trading was reflected in its operating profit which grew to £2.8m, more than five times the £500,000 it recorded in the previous year.
But despite the increase in turnover, Aesica is expected to cost its parent company Consort Medical millions after an explosion at the plant damaged equipment back in July.
Although no-one was hurt during the incident, the company said that a small area of its plant was damaged after a chemical reaction resulted in the “expulsion of material”.
Consort said that it the incident is likely to wipe between £3m and £5m off the group’s profits.
Aesica Pharmaceuticals also suffered after foreign exchange costs hit its bottom line. Unfavourable currency prices wiped £3.8m off its bottom line leading to the company reporting a loss for the financial year of £1.2m.
Commenting on the results in the company’s accounts, director Paul Hayes said: “The business performed well with an increase in revenue from the prior year. The results for the company show revenue of £26.1m and an operating profit of £2.8m.
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“Interest cost and FX losses outweigh dividend income and interest receivables, results in an overall loss for th year before tax of £1.7m.”
Aesica’s directors also pointed out other potential risks to its trading, including the 海角视频’s exit from the EU. Although the company said it does not expect to be negatively affected by Brexit, it did say that it was monitoring the negotiations.
Mr Hayes said: “The key business risks and uncertainties include reliance upon key customers/products, regulatory/legal risk, product quality, restructuring and political/socio-economic risk including the impact of Brexit.”
He added: “The company does not consider that a hard Brexit will have a significant impact on its operations and ability to service its supply chain. As negotiations continue, the company will monitor outcomes, assess the impact on the regulatory environment in which it operates, its customers, supply chain and employees and will implement an appropriate response.”