Business
Trading Update & Notice of Results
Trading Update & Notice of Results.
About this update from Animalcare Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 6523A Animalcare Group PLC 23 January 2020 \n\n23 January 2020\n \n \nAnimalcare Group plc\n(the \"Group\" or the \"Company\")\n \nTrading Update & Notice of Results\n \n23 January 2020. Animalcare Group plc (AIM: ANCR), the international animal health business, today provides the following unaudited trading update in advance of its full year results for the financial year ended 31 December 2019 (the \"Year\"), which are scheduled to be announced on 31 March 2020.\n \nHighlights:\n \n· Earnings in line with market expectations\n \n· Significant improvement in cash conversion versus the prior year\n \n· Strong net debt reduction of over 30% YoY\n \n· Launched Procanicare post period end in January 2020\n \nTrading overview\n \nEarnings for the Group for the period to 31 December 2019 were in line with market expectations. The Group's focus on building a strong platform for driving the future growth of the business has been demonstrated by the improvement in all our strategic KPIs and our developing portfolio of new product opportunities. \n \nRevenue for the year to 31 December 2019 was £71.1m (2018: £72.5m) a decline of 1.5% (c1.0% at constant exchange rate). Whilst new product launches accounted for £1.8m additional sales, revenue was impacted by the previously reported supply challenges by £1.7m and the decline in use of antibiotics in production animals of £1m, as expected. \n \nThe Company committed to improving its cash performance and reducing net debt during 2019. In line with these objectives, the Company expects to have significantly improved its underlying cash conversion versus the 80% achieved in 2018. Net debt (excluding IFRS16 lease liabilities of c£1.8m) was around £15.9m as at 31 December 2019 (31 December 2018: £23.6m), the reduction largely driven by the higher cash conversion noted above and targeted capital expenditure. \n \n \nStrategic progress\n \nThe Group continues to execute upon its strategic priorities to deliver sustainable, profitable growth.\n \nProduct portfolio\n· Resources focused on the promotion of sustainable and higher margin products. Around 25% of product brand...