Hutchison China sales surge

29th Jul 2010 13:53

China-based healthcare and consumer products group Hutchison China Meditech saw strong sales growth in the first half of 2010, driven by continued like-for-like growth in the China Healthcare Division and the launch of Hutchison Hain Organic.Sales rose to $73.2m from $56.66m the year before while profit before tax jumped to $2.08m from $0.32m. The company showed a net loss of $1.6m, however, after interest, tax, and minority interests, though this was an improvement on the previous year's net loss of $2.7m.Cash and cash equivalents at the end of June 2010 stood at $40.4m, up from $39.6m at the end of June 2009 but slightly down on the $41.8m at the end of 2009.Net operating cash outflow was $5.8m, versus an inflow of $7.1m in the first half of 2009. The company attributed the reversal to an increase in working capital for its China Healthcare division, regarded as the "driver of operating profit and cash" within the group."We are confident that each of our businesses will continue to grow considerably," asserted Christian Hogg, chief executive officer of the company. "China Healthcare is benefiting both from the China Government's commitment to expand State healthcare provision and from growing affluence fuelling consumer consumption of quality healthcare products," Hogg maintained.