ClearStream reports first half profit

Irish medical devices company ClearStream Technologies has reported pretax profits of €106,688 for the six months to the end of January.

This compares with a loss of €1.4 million for the same period to the end of January 2008 and follows a 69 per cent rise in revenues from €3.5 million to €6 million.

Enniscorthy, Co Wexford-based Clearstream develops and manufactures medical devices such as catheters and stents used in procedures such as angioplasty. This is a procedure used to widen a narrowed or blocked blood vessel.

Revenues were comprised of €2.3 million in own brand sales, €1.9 million in business-to-business sales and €1.8 million from co-labelled products.

Clearstream said its co-labelling sales had increased strongly thanks to the launch of new products in the second-half of 2008.

“It is anticipated that the recent approval of the products for sale in Canada will further enhance this trend,” the company said in a statement.

Difficulties securing letters of credit from distributors – without which Clearstream said it will not ship product – have constrained sales growth of its own brand product.

The company said the balance of its revenues were continuing to shift with Europe accounting for 24 per cent of own brand sales.

Over the period Clearstream raised €600,000 through the placing of almost 2.5 million new shares on August 2008 at a price of £0.20 (€0.224) per share.

Net debt at the end of January was €2.1 million. Over the period a six-month term loan of €350,000 was extended to €500,000 and the term increased to 5 years.

Over the period Clearstream extended a co-labelling deal with Cordis until 2011 and secured a research and development agreement with Terumo, based in Japan.

Andy Jones, chief executive, said the company had made “sustained progress” in its first half.

Shares in the AIM-listed firm were up 8 per cent at 37 pence by 4pm and are up 45 per cent over the last year. At 37 pence the company has a market cap of £10.7 million (€12 million).