Shares in consumer self-care company Venture Life (VLG:AIM) vaulted 17% to a three-year high of 84p on news of an 80% surge in first-half revenue amid a wave of new manufacturing and distribution agreements.
Investors responded to a positive outlook from chief executive Jerry Randall.
He said the performance demonstrated ‘the resilience and opportunity within our business, along with the strength and ingenuity of our team, in very difficult economic circumstances’ and remains confident that ‘this will continue to be the case as we move into the second half of the year’.
IN RUDE HEALTH
Sold in supermarkets and pharmacies, Venture Life’s product portfolio includes the UltraDEX and Dentyl oral care ranges, food supplements for maintaining brain function, medical devices for women’s intimate healthcare, fungal infections and proctology.
The AIM-traded concern is also a specialist provider of dermo-cosmetics for addressing the signs of ageing.
Building on a record 2019, sales for the six months to 30 June jumped 80% to a forecast-beating £16.9 million. ‘There has been step change in the business in this first half of the year,’ enthused Randall, who pointed out that 65% of the growth was generated organically.
‘This is a remarkable achievement, amidst an extremely challenging backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic,’ he added.
RACKING UP THE DEALS
During the half, Venture Life signed a wave of partnering, development and manufacturing agreements, whilst developing eight new products for its newly created DISINPLUS hand sanitising gel brand. Encouragingly, supermarket giant ASDA ordered one million units in the first half alone.
Randall insisted DISINPLUS has ‘started well and generated meaningful revenues in the first half and, given the organic growth within the business, our Venture Life brands now represent 53% of revenues.’
Venture Life has also extended its commercial relationship with fellow AIM-listed company Alliance Pharma (APH:AIM) following its appointment as a second manufacturer of Alliance’s Kelo-Cote scar prevention products.
Randall also highlighted strong sales in the UK and The Netherlands from the products acquired through the January 2020 takeover of Breda-based PharmaSource, a fast growing, profitable seller of medical devices in the areas of fungal nail infections, wart removal, oral and women’s health.
And despite the pandemic, Venture Life also enjoyed strong orders from its key, unnamed Chinese partner, which distributes brands including Dentyl in Greater China.
‘With our strong balance sheet we continue to explore additive merger and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities using our existing cash resources and available debt finance alone,’ added Randall.
