Revenue at clinical trials group Venn Life Sciences more than doubled in the first half of the year as income from recent acquisitions boosted the figures.

However, its operating loss widened. Recently appointed company chairman Allan Wood said this was due to continued investment in its technology development division Innovenn, which it has put on the market.

Innovenn has been working on developing synthetic skin products for use in clinical trials. The LabSkin technology is seen as an alternative to live testing of cosmetic and skincare following an EU ban on the use of animals in such trials.

Venn acquired the LabSkin intellectual property back in early 2014, when it bought UK dermatology company Evocutis in a £210,000 all-share deal.

“Importantly, the disposal of this business, once achieved, will enable management to singularly focus on the growth of our core business,” said Mr Wood.

Overall, fee income in the first half of 2016 was €9.06 million, up from €4.25 million in the same period last year.

While the operating loss widened to €718,000 from €259,000 a year earlier – or seven cent a share, up from six cent in the year ago period – the bulk of this is accounted for by discontinued operations. The loss from continuing operations almost halved to €66,000, or one cent a share, compared to four cent in the first half of 2015.

Mr Wood said the priority over the first half of the year was on improving margins and integrating the recently acquired Kinesis business. The €6.5 million acquisition has opened new business opportunities for Venn, the company said.

"The addition of Kinesis has been well received by the market and we expect the second half of the year to see the benefits of this acquisition," said Mr Wood, who joined the board with another non-executive, Mary Sheahen, over the summer.

“Overall we continue to see opportunities for further growth, both organically and through M&A,” he said. The immediate focus for potential acquisitions is Central and Eastern Europe, the company said.