Bioquell profits soar after disposal of legacy businesses

Revenue increases and improving margins at bio-decontamination and containment equipment designer Bioquell sent pre-tax profits soaring, growing earnings per share almost nine-fold in the process.

Total revenues at Bioquell grew 10% to £29.2m in the calendar year, as the Hampshire-based group improved its core bio-decontamination revenues 13% to £28.5m.

Bioquell expanded profit margins from 48% to 52%, helping it push profit from operations, excluding exceptional items, to £2.9m - an 81% rate of growth over the twelve months.

Pre-tax profit came to £3.3m, a marked improvement over the £100,000 posted a year earlier.

Ian Johnson, executive chairman of Bioquell, pointed to a process of continuing to simplify the group and focus on generating top line growth from the core bio-decontamination business.

"The disposal of the legacy Air Flow service activity will enhance our ability to deliver excellent customer service to our core customers. We have invested in sales and marketing resource to maximise our potential in the international Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical market and on further improving financial performance through generating additional recurring revenues," he added.

Earnings per share rocketed from 1.3p in 2016 to 11.6p just twelve months later.

Bioquell shares, having soared 160% since the start of 2017 from below 140p to a recent peak at around 360p, dropped a few pennies on Wednesday morning to 320.00p.