Half-year sales and pre-tax profits have fallen at Chippenham-based specialist drugs firm Alliance Pharma after sales of its Deltacortril steroid were hit by a new competitor and changes in doctors’ prescribing trends.
Sales in the six months to June 30 were down 10% to £22m which pushed won pre-tax profits during the period from £7m to £5.3m.
However, stripping out Deltacortril’s performance, underlying sales growth at Alliance, which acquires and licenses established products with stable sales in niche areas, was up 2% and underlying pre-tax profit growth hit 16%.
The firm’s net bank debt was reduced from £18.4m to £14.3m. During the period Alliance also continued its acquisition strategy, taking over anti-malarial brands from AstraZeneca UK last month.
It also completed the first stage of expansion into Europe.
Chairman Michael Gatenby said: “We are pleased with the underlying performance in the first half year.
“We have an attractive and robust portfolio, which, boosted by the product acquisitions we have made over the past 12 months, gives us plenty of scope for driving organic sales growth.
“We remain well placed to fund further acquisitions and we have substantially broadened our search for targets to include opportunities on the Continent. We are confident that Alliance will continue to make solid progress.”
Alliance said sales of Deltacortril now appeared to have stabilised at a run rate of around £2m a year, following the decline after the launch of a second generic competitor and “changes in clinical preference”.
The firm has also seen increased competition in Ireland for Nu-Seals low-dose aspirin.
Looking ahead, chief executive John Dawson said: “We have an attractive and robust portfolio, which, boosted by the product acquisitions we have made over the past 12 months, gives us plenty of scope for driving organic sales growth.
“We remain well placed to fund further acquisitions and we have broadened our search for targets to include opportunities on the Continent. We are confident that Alliance will continue to make solid progress.”
