Medical devices company LiDCO (LID) has been knocking at the door of profitability for a few years now, and the group may well have managed it this time had it not been for austerity-inspired destocking in Europe and market disruption in the US. Still, favourable regulatory decisions in the UK helped the group in the period and - despite flat headline sales - underlying product revenues rose 9 per cent, after adjusting for one-off licensing fees.
The group's UK operation especially performed strongly - sales rose 33 per cent in the year to £4.93m - after regulators deemed that the monitoring of patients' fluids was an essential part of overall care. This just about offset a much weaker performance in the US and Europe. Indeed, European sales tumbled 27 per cent to £0.62m after being hit by destocking in southern Europe and lower average prices for disposable components. Meanwhile, US product sales fell 26 per cent to £1.1m on the back of market disruption - LiDCO changed its distributors and decided to build up its own US sales operation. Overall, management expects "significant sales growth" this year, driven by demand in the UK and US.
Broker finnCap expects adjusted pre-tax profit for end-January 2014 of £0.3m, giving adjusted EPS of 0.4p (£0.3m pre-tax loss and 0.1p in 2013).
LIDCO (LID) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 11.9p | MARKET VALUE: | £23.1m | |
| TOUCH: | 11.5-12.3p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 21.3p | LOW: 11.3p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 3.5p* | NET CASH: | £1.88m | |
| Year to 31 Jan | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 4.53 | -1.77 | -1.20 | nil |
| 2010 | 5.37 | -1.55 | -0.87 | nil |
| 2011 | 6.24 | -0.49 | -0.22 | nil |
| 2012 | 7.12 | -0.05 | 0.01 | nil |
| 2013 | 7.21 | -0.26 | -0.07 | nil |
| % change | +1 | - | - | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- | ||||
