24 September 2019 – interim results
Healthcare group Alliance Pharma has reported a strong first half of 2019 with see-through revenues up 29% to £70.3m (2018: £54.5m). Like-for-like revenues, excluding acquisitions, were up 10% (on a constant currency basis) on the same period last year to £60.3m. Gross profit increased by 27% to £41.3m (2018: £32.4m) and underlying EBITDA was £18.8m (2018: £14.1m). As a result of adverse currency movements, the increase in underlying profit before tax was 25%, with profit before tax of £15.2m (2018: £12.1m). Underlying basic earnings per share were 2.34p, up from 2.04p, and the interim dividend was increased by 10% to 0.536p per share (2018: 0.487p). Payment of the dividend is on 10 January 2020, with the ex-dividend date being 19 December. The shares are good value and we rate the business highly. We keep our BUY recommendation.