Alliance Pharma's revenues climb as 'star' products shine

For the year ended 31 December overall revenue increased by 22% to £124m compared to the year before, while revenues increased by 4% when not including new acquisitions and Alliance said it expects underlying profit before tax to fall in line with expectations.

Amongst the products driving the revenue increase was scar reduction gel Kelo-cote, which achieved a 68% rise in sales in to £22.5m thanks to booming demand in Asia and mainland Europe, Vamousse, which saw sales increase by 16% to £5.8m, and MacuShield, which achieved sales growth of 6% to £7m.

Meanwhile, pregnancy related nausea treatment Xonvea was launched in October 2018 and is on track with expectations, while anti-dandruff shampoo Nizoral, which was acquired from Johnson & Johnson in June, performed in line with expectations after bringing in £10.9m over the second half of the year.

On the downside, sales of local brands for the year were down 5% on the previous year at £77.8m, though free cash flow for the year was "slightly stronger than anticipated" at approximately £16.1m, down from £22.0m the year before.

Peter Butterfield, chief executive of Alliance Pharma, said: "We are very pleased to report continued strong momentum in our business, with sales in 2018 up 22% compared with the previous year. We look forward to delivering further growth in the year ahead and to employing the group's strong cashflow to further develop the business as the year progresses."

Analysts from Numis bumped up full-year revenue forecasts for Alliance by approximately 1% and estimated a reduction in net debt by the end of the current year, commending the company as "attractive" following a "continued strong performance".

Alliance Pharma's shares were up by 2.53% at 64.80p at 1217 GMT.