BioMaxima reports 8% sales increase in H1 2010

2010-08-02

BioMaxima, the listed maker and distributor of in vitro diagnostics equipment and reagents, posted a 7.6% y-o-y increase in sales revenues in the first half of the year, to just over PLN 3.5m (€0.9m), according to preliminary figures. Net profit surged by 190% y-o-y in the six months to June and amounted to PLN 0.3m (€0.07m), whereas operating profit jumped by more than 70% y-o-y and exceeded PLN 0.41m (€0.1m). The company attributed the strong improvement in profitability mainly to cost-optimisation measures, and noted that they would have been better still had it not been for a weakening of the zloty, which pushed up the costs of imports of reagents and preparations.
In a statement to the Warsaw Stock Exchange, BioMaxima also confirmed that on 21 June it signed a preliminary agreement about the acquisition of Polab, the exclusive Polish distributor of Biosigma, an Italian manufacturer of disposable items for analysis labware, for €0.28m. The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of this month. The acquisition should significantly boost BioMaxima’s topline and bottomline: in the five months to the end of May, Polab generated sales revenues of just over PLN 1.35m (€0.34m) and made a net profit of PLN 0.19m (€0.05m).
In the first six months of the year BioMaxima also completed the acquisition of Bio-Farm, a smaller Polish rival, and signed an exclusive agreement with Nova Biomedical of the US for the distribution of glucose meters to Polish hospitals.
On 28 June BioMaxima obtained a PLN 1.75m (€0.44m) loan from BPH Bank towards the cost of building a new production/warehousing hall in the Lublin sub-zone of the Euro-Park Mielec Special Economic Zone. The amount represents 71.4% of the total value of the investment, with the remaining funding to come from BioMaxima’s own cash.