LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Mouthwash and haemorrhoid cream maker Venture Life said in an update on Monday that it expected to report first-half revenue of £18.9m, up 36% year-on-year.
The AIM-traded firm put the growth down to the recent acquisitions of BBI Healthcare and the Helsinn Integrative Care Portfolio (HICP), as well as a "difficult" prior year comparative.

It said the acquisitions contributed revenue of £6.3m in the six months ended 30 June, while group gross margins and adjusted EBITDA margins improved by a respective four and three percentage points over the same period last year.

Cash inflow generated from operating activities totalled £1.5m, swinging from a £0.7m outflow, while net debt before finance leases narrowed to £2.6m from £3.2m at the end of December.

Net debt after finance leases, meanwhile, reduced to £7.2m from £7.5m.

The company said its order book remained "strong", and was ahead of the same period last year as customers placed an increased focus on ensuring security of supply.

"The group has delivered revenue growth in the first half primarily through the acquisitions," said chief executive officer Jerry Randall.

"The challenging retail environment continued in the first half, but I am delighted to see that, notwithstanding this, a number of our own brands, as well as some customer brands, have demonstrated strong revenue growth in the period.

"The margin improvement seen versus 2021 is particularly encouraging, and customers have been very responsive to our request to order further out than their normal lead times, enabling us to both ensure supply of raw materials and packaging in time to produce, and manage costs."

Randall said the supply chain environment continued to be "challenging", but added that its team had "done a great job" in managing that in the first half, which would continue in the second.

"As is normal, our revenues are weighted in the second half of the year, and this will be the same for 2022, supplemented also by some orders that moved into the second half as a result of supply chain timings.

"The unlocking of Shanghai should allow our new partner to begin to market our products there, but these are early days and we continue to monitor the situation.

"The progress to date and the order book in hand mean the board is confident the group will deliver financial performance in 2022 in line with market expectations."

At 1216 BST, shares in Venture Life Group were up 12.44% at 35.98p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.

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