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Lower demand from the NHS has reduced Deltex Medical’s (LON:DEMG) interim revenues despite good progress overseas.
Sales at the blood flow monitoring systems specialist were £2.7mln (£3mln) in the first half of 2015, with a 13% drop in revenues from the Health Service to £1.4mln the main reason.
The NHS has faced severe cash constraints over the past 18 months as it struggles to cope with an ageing population and austerity measures.
Deltex expects increased marketing and new products to help UK sales over the remainder of the year.
Ewan Phillips, chief executive, said “Sales in the UK have gone down two years in a row after fifteen years of continuous growth.
To correct this, he said the company has spent the last eighteen months focusing on dealing with individual clinicians.
It is with this change in focus, that gives Philips confidence that Deltex will get back into growth in the UK.
It was a better picture abroad with sales in the US rising 28% to £0.6mln with accounts now established in eleven hospitals.
A further ten evaluations have been completed, three more are underway and 11 are under discussion.
Other international revenues rose by 19% to £0.6mln driven by France and Peru, while Deltex also announced its first competitive tender win in Canada.
Cash available at 30 June was £1.3mln.
Nigel Keen, chairman, said its US and other international growth would reduce the impact of the NHS in the second half of the year.
“We expect increasing traction of the use of ODM in US hospitals and we will start to roll-out a series of new products to enhance our offering to clinicians."
The contract in Canada, which was originally expected last year, is also expected to generate revenues in the second half of 2015 and be a reference account in the country.
The tender is initially for three years and covers a number of hospital systems across a single province.
Shares were 2% lower to 6p.