A Wiltshire-headquartered healthcare group saw its profits drop by 48% in the first half of the year.
Chippenham’s Alliance Pharma saw profits before tax slip from £19.7m to £10.3m in the period up to June 30. Bosses said temporary manufacturing delays arising from regulatory issues were to blame for the drop.
Yet, despite this drop bosses were hopeful that the delays would turn around in the second half of the year, and said it experienced revenue growth for its Kelo-Cote franchise and Nizoral was in line with expectations. The board also noted that its Amberen revenues returned to growth in the second quarter of the year.
In response to shareholder feedback, the board has decided to pause the interim dividend whilst we develop a new dividend policy with greater focus on reinvestment in the business. The new policy will be published in the preliminary results in March 2024.
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Revenues remained flat on a like-for-like basis at £82.4m and net debt was £94.5m, which was a £7.5m decrease from the year previously.
Commenting on the results, Peter Butterfield, chief executive, said: "We are encouraged by the recovery in China and the significant market share gains made by Kelo-Cote, along with the excellent progress of Nizoral, which is now fully under our control. Meanwhile our wider portfolio continues to provide a robust platform from which to grow our Consumer Healthcare brands.
"The second half of 2023 has got off to an encouraging start as we have addressed the regulatory issues and recommenced production of certain products impacted in the first half of the year. Our Kelo-Cote CBEC distributor has begun to place orders and we have contractual agreements in place to secure the future orders required to meet our expectations for full year revenues. We anticipate strong Group sales growth in H2 as our marketing campaigns yield benefits and we launch several new products to grow our market share.
"Our free cash flow is expected to continue to build strongly for the remainder of 2023, and we will continue to reduce our net debt and leverage by the end of the year. The Board's expectation for full year operating performance is unchanged."
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