A weaker euro and one-off costs totalling £17.2m have disguised progress at medical devices company Consort Medical (CSRT). The majority of the costs related to last year's acquisition of contract development and manufacturing outfit Aesica, for which Consort paid £227m. Excluding the one-offs, underlying pre-tax profits grew 30 per cent to £22.7m for the year to April.
Last year's bumper sales figures included five and half months of trading from Aesica. The newly acquired company brought in £79m of revenues and £4.2m of operating profits - 16 per cent of the underlying group total of £25.1m. However, using the exchange rates at the time of the acquisition, Aesica would have brought in £83.3m in sales and £4.7m in underlying operating profits.
Integrating Aesica hasn't appeared to compromise growth at Consort's Bespak business. Revenues at the drug-delivery device business grew 5.8 per cent last year to £106m, thanks to better-than-expected sales of two new respiratory products.
Analysts at Investec have downgraded their EPS forecast for the current financial year by 4 per cent to account for the weaker Euro. The brokerage now expects pre-tax profit of £31.4m, giving EPS of 51.7p, up from £22.7m and 47p in FY 2015.
| CONSORT MEDICAL (CSRT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 928p | MARKET VALUE: | £456m | |
| TOUCH: | 928-935p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,003p | LOW: 650p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.0% | PE RATIO: | 60 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 408p* | NET DEBT: | 49% | |
| Year to 30 April | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011** | 132 | 12.7 | 41.0 | 21.8 |
| 2012** | 141 | 17.8 | 56.4 | 21.8 |
| 2013** | 95 | 14.4 | 43.2 | 22.5 |
| 2014 | 100 | 16.1 | 41.5 | 18.1 |
| 2015 | 185 | 5.5 | 15.4 | 18.1 |
| % change | +85 | -66 | -63 | - |
Ex-div:18 Sep Payment:24 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £189m or 384p a share **Adjusted for October 2014 rights issue (5 for 8 shares at 540p) | ||||
