It’s been another solid six months of growth at wound-care specialist Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS) as sales of its surgical adhesive LiquiBand gained momentum across the Atlantic. US sales of the product grew a staggering 139 per cent as the group's non-hospital market share grew to 21.5 per cent from 19 per cent at the end of 2014. Sales of the product also rose by a fifth across Europe and the rest of the world, with particularly strong performances in France and the Netherlands. This helped push revenues from "branded distributed" products, those sold via third parties, up 48 per cent to £6.4m.
However, sales from the "branded direct" category, where AMS sells products through its own in-house sales forces, dipped 3 per cent to £111m - albeit rising 4 per cent at constant currency. Chief executive Chris Meredith said although there were "a number of pleasing developments" within the division, sales of Resorba into Germany and the Czech Republic fell 9 per cent at constant currency, while sales of LiquiBand into UK accident and emergency rooms also dropped 9 per cent.
Analysts at N+1 Singer expect pre-tax profits of £16.6m this year, giving EPS of 6.5p, compared with £15.6m and 6.3p in 2014.
| ADVANCED MEDICAL SOLUTIONS (AMS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 154p | MARKET VALUE: | £322m | |
| TOUCH: | 153-154p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 161p | LOW: 111p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.5% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 46p* | NET CASH: | £23m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 29.4 | 7.1 | 2.9 | 0.22 |
| 2015 | 32.7 | 8.0 | 3.2 | 0.25 |
| % change | +11 | +14 | +11 | +14 |
Ex-div: 1 Oct Payment: 30 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £35m, or 17p a share | ||||
