Belluscura PLC (AIM:BELL), which was one of the first London-listed companies to sound the alarm on concrete effects from the emerging US-China trade war, has clarified that it now expects its products sold in the US will be subject to a tariff production cost impact of up to 20%.
The company, which makes portable oxygen enrichment devices for people who struggle to breathe, said in a statement on Wednesday that the latest revision to the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTSUS) will have a direct impact.
Under the new rules, all imports of products from China and Hong Kong classified as providing oxygen therapy and other therapeutic respiration apparatus will be subject to a 20% ad valorem duty.
As it said last week, Belluscura added that it is continuing to evaluate "additional long-term opportunities to reduce tariff and production costs," such as manufacturing and sourcing components from other than China or similarly highly-tariffed countries.
The AIM-listed outfit also announced that first-quarter sales came to $912,000, up from $166,000 a year earlier, and had a cash balance of $1.1 million and debt of $0.6 million.
Second quarter sales could be boosted by a new X-PLOR 5 oxygen device, released earlier this month and the first US FDA-cleared five-level portable oxygen concentrator weighing under four pounds.
The company also announced that finance chief Simon Neicheril has resigned from the company to take up a new position, with chairman Paul Tuson, a qualified accountant, taking board responsibility for finance.
Tuson said trading since February has been "satisfactory" and prospects for the second quarter "encouraging, despite the uncertainties surrounding the recent imposition of US tariffs".
Shares in the company fell 6.7% to 0.70p, still above the all-time low of 0.6p that was scraped on last Monday's update.