Plant Health Care revenues grow on strong US trading

Plant Health Care on Tuesday reported full-year revenue growth, though strong performances in the Americas were largely offset by reduced sales in Europe and Africa.

For the year ended 31 December, the supplier of biological products to the agriculture industry said its revenue came in at $8.0m, up by 7% on the previous year on a constant currency basis, as US sales increased by 32% to $2.1m, Mexican sales increased by 10% and Brazilian sales jumped from zero to $1.1m.

The AIM traded company also reported that gross margin had improved to 65%, from 62%, and said strong US sales were driven by the release of a new corn product, which made up $1.6m of sales in the country, while a new soy product also launched in the US earlier in January.

Chris Richards, interim chief executive of Plant Health Care, said: "Sales of our new soy product, which we had expected our channel partner to launch before the end of 2018, have now started on a modest scale, as our partner introduces the product to the market. We expect sales to be comparable to the corn product, over time."

Meanwhile, sales in Europe and Africa dropped by 62% amid a slower draw-down of in-market inventory in South Africa due to drought.

Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December were $4.3m, up from $3.9m at the same point a year before, with a delayed US product launch increasing inventory by around $0.5m and the company stating that year-end cash reserves remained sufficient to take it to cash positive in 2020, as commercial income grows.

Plant Health Care's shares were up 0.67% at 7.55p at 1153 GMT.