Results round-up
Specialist healthcare company BTG reported a drop in full-year pre-tax profit on Tuesday as it said translation benefits from a weaker sterling were offset by hedging losses on forward contracts.
For the year to the end of March, the company made a pre-tax profit of £31.6m versus £57.5m the year before, despite revenue rising to £570.5m from £447.5m.
Product sales were up 37% to £387.3m while licensing revenues grew 12% to £183.2m and BTG said Interventional Medicine is now the largest and fastest growing revenue contributor, delivering 15% organic growth at constant exchange rates.
Chief executive officer Louise Makin said: "We have delivered strong double-digit product sales growth and generated significant cash flows, enabling us to invest in product innovation, clinical data, geographic expansion and acquisitions. We have a broad portfolio and a scalable platform, and there is momentum across the business. With the financial strength to continue our investment plans, we are well positioned to capture further value in the growing Interventional Medicine space and to deliver sustained business growth."
The group said it expects to deliver continued double-digit product sales growth beyond 2017/18, driven by a strong Interventional Medicine performance, aided by the anticipated opportunity from Varithena and PneumRx. In addition, it expects a sustained performance in Specialty Pharmaceuticals to underpin product sales over the medium term.
Holding company for Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, CYBG, posted its interim results for the six months to 31 March on Tuesday, reporting a "stable" net interest margin at 226bps, which it said reflected "active" margin management against a backdrop of a competitive market.
The FTSE 250 firm said income growth was 1.2% at £497m in H1 2017, with continued cost reduction as underlying costs reached £348m - £5m lower than H1 2016.
Underlying earnings per share totalled 9.0p, which was up 25% on 31 March 2016, and the company’s asset quality reportedly improved with "continued low impairment charges".
CYBG’s common equity tier 1 ratio remained stable at 12.5%, while its underlying return on tangible equity was 6.3% in H1 2017, up from 4.5% H1 2016.
Statutory profit before tax reached £46m, after the deduction of restructuring and charges for legacy conduct matters.
Annualised mortgage growth was 5%, which the board said was ahead of market, as mortgage balances increased to £22.4bn.
The bank's core SME book growth was 3% annualised, with over £1bn of new loans and facilities granted under CYBG’s commitment to make £6bn of lending available to SMEs over three years to 2019.
"CYBG has had a good start to 2017, building on the momentum created in our first year as an independent business," commented chairman Jim Pettigrew.
"We remain focused on our strategy to leverage our digital capabilities and scalable infrastructure to support our growth ambitions and deliver a superior customer experience."
Pettigrew said the group's financial performance had been "good" in the first half of the year and it continued to target a modest inaugural dividend in respect of 2017.
"CYBG offers a true alternative in UK banking - a full service challenger bank designed around our customers' lives, which is supporting households and businesses across the UK."
David Duffy, CEO of CYBG, added that in the first half of the year the company maintained momentum in delivering its strategic priorities and commitments, and as a result was delivering “significantly improved” financial performance.