Tristel (TSTL) is still waiting on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve its surface disinfectant product for use on invasive medical devices. It already has two approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow its products to be used on external surfaces. Finance director Liz Dixon said the group is confident that this approval will come in time, otherwise they would have cancelled the process. Since the project began in 2015, Tristel has spent £1.3m in pursuit of American regulatory approval, but chief executive Paul Swinney expects “many millions” of potential revenues once FDA consent comes through.
Ahead of Brexit, some labelling activities for medical device products have been moved to the Netherlands and a warehouse has been established in Antwerp. More than half of sales now come from outside the UK. Indeed, the domestic market has been “relatively flat” in recent years, which makes the 8 per cent sales growth in the UK human health division “encouraging”, according to Mr Swinney,
Analysts at FinnCap expect pre-tax profits of £5.5m during the year to June 2019, giving EPS of 10.2p, compared with £4.7m and 8.8p in FY2018.
| TRISTEL (TSTL) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 288p | MARKET VALUE: | £127m | |
| TOUCH: | 280-295p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 343p | LOW: 203p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.7% | PE RATIO: | 36 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 47p* | NET CASH: | £4.49m | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 10.7 | 1.85 | 3.62 | 1.60 |
| 2018 | 12.0 | 2.21 | 4.05 | 2.04 |
| % change | +12 | +19 | +12 | +28 |
| Ex-div: | 28 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 30 Apr | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £12.7m, or 29p a share | ||||
