LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Veterinary medicine supplier Animalcare Group expects trading for the full year to be ahead of market forecasts as interim revenue and profit exceeded expectations after it accelerated investment in new products despite Brexit uncertainty.
Sales and profit were ahead of the company's expectations with revenue for the six months ended 31 December, growing 12% compared to last year, to £7.97m.

The company said that despite the uncertainty of Brexit it accelerated investment in new products on the strength positive trading momentum and its "strong" financial position.

During the period the company launched four products, three as part of a range of ear cleaners and treatments, and one from the in-house development pipeline, Acecare, a companion animal sedative. Two further product launches are expected in the second half of the year, both on distribution from EU partners and both for use with companion animals.

Expenditure on the pipeline is set to increase for the year to around £2m from £1.6m last year.

Revenue from the licensed veterinary medicines business increased 17.2% to £5.37m, driven by 14.6% growth in the UK and 37.7% growth outside the UK.

Sales from new products launched during the six months contributed around £200,000, or 4%, of the overall 17.2% growth.

Gross margins improved due to a favourable sales mix and cost of goods initiatives.

Revenue from the animal welfare products business revenue climbed 13.4% to £1.51m due to growth in the accessories range.

Whereas revenue from the companion animal identification business fell 9.2% to £1.09m, following compulsory microchipping of dogs in the UK in April 2016. The company said it expects to see a reduction in microchip volumes in the medium-term, but database services have continued to grow.

Shares in Animalcare Group were up 5.44% to 310p at 0941 GMT.

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