Sinclair IS Pharma disposes of non-aesthetics business

Sinclair IS Pharma has disposed of its non-aesthetics business to Alliance Pharma for a total upfront cash consideration of £132m.

The specialty pharma group said the disposal creates a fast growth, pure-play differentiated aesthetics company, with high gross margins recorded in full year 2015, and leaves Sinclair with a pro-forma net cash position of £82m to invest in future growth opportunities and cover milestone payments from historical acquisitions.

Sinclair said the deal reduces business complexity with a simplified corporate structure and significantly cuts down the number of SKUs as the remaining aesthetics business will have fewer SKUs to manage and a smaller number of distribution partners.

Following completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur in December 2015, the company will be renamed Sinclair Pharma.

Sinclair IS said it will remain in an offer period under the framework provided by a formal sales process under the Takeover Code.

Also on Thursday, the company released results for the year to the end of June, which revealed that pre-tax losses widened to £8.2m from £4.4m last year.

Revenue rose 19.4% to £75.9m but this was offset by higher expenses.

At 0836 GMT, Sinclair shares were up 8.4% to 38.75p.