Sinclair Pharma H1 losses widen as revenue rises

27th Sep 2018 14:12

(Sharecast News) - Dermatology product maker Sinclair Pharma said first half pre-tax losses widened to £11.4m from £7.8m.Gross profit increased by 1.9% to £14.8m as a result of the increase in revenues but offset by a reduction in the gross margin to 69.7% from 72.4%. Revenue rose 6% to £21.3 million.Sinclair said gross margin was adversely impacted by selling repurchased Silhouette InstaLift inventory in the US and by the improved performance of lower margin Sculptra that made up a larger proportion of overall sales than in the prior year.Exceptional items came in at £3.5m, including an early £1.4m termination fee paid to Thermi in order to regain the rights to Silhouette InstaLift and an inventory provision of £1.9m arising on the excess inventory taken back from Thermi "in order to ensure an orderly in market transition for the brand"."I am pleased with the performance of the group in the first half of 2018 which has seen a consolidation of our direct presence in several key markets," said chief executive Chris Spooner said."Much was achieved during the period and the group continues to see strong demand for its products.""Trading since the end of the interim period has shown significant growth over the same period in 2017. We remain confident of delivering strong sales growth for the full year."Sinclair reported earlier in the month that it had received a 32 pence a share cash offer from Huadong Medicine Co Ltd valuing it at around £160m.The proposed offer for the of skin lifting came after three deadline extensions for Huadong to make a bid.Huadong has also agreed to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Sinclair before Oct. 2, ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline under UK takeover rules.