York animal health firm sees revenues decline due to "supply challenges"

A York animal health business has announced that it has seen a 1.9 per cent decline in revenues due to “supply challenges”.

Animalcare Group reported revenues of £71.1m in its full year results for 2019, down 1.9 per cent from £72.5m in 2018.

The company also reported losses before tax of £1.6m, with underlying EBITDA increasing by 11.3 per cent to £13.1m.

Animalcare commented: “We have taken a number of steps, such as cutting overheads, careful management of inventory and a capital expenditure freeze for all but key development programmes and manufacturing transfers.

“This will limit cash outflows, thereby protecting our operational resilience and ability to pursue growth opportunities.

“This pandemic will pass and we will return to some form of new normality.”

Jenny Winter, CEO of Animalcare, added: “Since the turn of the year the importance of employee safety and balance sheet strength has been thrown into even sharper relief by COVID-19.

“Performance over the first three months of the year was strong with the expected downturn in demand coming into view from Q2.

“The Companion Animals sector, where public health measures have often restricted veterinary activity to emergency treatments, has been the most affected.

“By contrast, the Production Animals segment has shown real resilience, helping to offset some of the decline in demand.

“Forecasting the exact shape and speed of the recovery will be difficult, though judging by the countries, like Germany, that have operated more normally through this period it is clear that the driver of the recovery in demand will be the speed with which vets return to work.

“We have noted the early signs of a return in some other countries more recently and continue to monitor the situation closely.”