Avecia reports solid half-year performance

A recovery in the second quarter enabled Avecia to turn in a solid result for the first half of the financial year. Second quarter group sales rose by 4% to £155.6m (€244.2m) from £150m (€235m) in the same period last year, bringing the increase for the first six months to 1%: £287.4m (€451m) up from £285.4m (€448.0m). Growth was driven by the pharmaceuticals, neo-resins and metal extraction products businesses.

Group operating profit, however, fell by 3% to £20.4m (€32.0m) in the second quarter from £21.0m (€33.0m) in 2001. Over the first half of the year operating profit decreased by 18% due to higher depreciation charges arising from ongoing investments in production assets. These included a £70m (€110m) investment in a new large-scale biologics medicines manufacturing facility at Billingham in the UK, due to come on stream in the second half of next year.

In addition there has been a strategic extension to the biotechnology portfolio with additional investment in a new mammalian cell culture suite, also at Billingham, which is due on stream this month. In June a new early-phase pharmaceutical pilot plant was opened at Huddersfield, UK, and an expansion programme to treble capacity at the company's DNA medicines unit in Massachusetts, US, has also been completed at a cost of US$5m (€5m).

'Our recent investments in fine chemicals are now beginning to deliver growth and we are working on a lot of new opportunities in the healthcare sector,' said ceo Jeremy Scudamore.