Integumen PLC’s (LON:SKIN) turnaround under new boss Gerry Brandon has been reflected in the cosmetics testing group’s full-year results.
The results are the first since Brandon took the reins a year ago.
The Dubliner moved immediately to reduce the board of directors and switch the company’s focus from sales of low-margin personal care products to Labskin – a lab-grown skin which cosmetic companies can use to test their latest products in a real-world setting.
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Brandon said today the changes have had a “transformational” effect on the company’s financial performance.
Revenue, including sales from discontinued operations, doubled to £501,000 in the 12 months ended 31 December 2018 (2017: £238,000).
Within that, sales generated from continuing operations almost trebled to £274,000 (2017: £93,000).
That reflected Integumen’s shift from offering Labskin as single skin test kits to using the technology to become a “fully-fledged service provider” for healthcare, cosmetic and pharma companies.
The company noted that this change in focus meant invoices for clinical tests were reaching up to 25 times the average price of selling single test kits by year end.
Coupled with a cut in salaries, the top-line jump meant underlying losses fell by 13% to £1.22mln (2017: £1.40mln).
Bosses confident in outlook for 2019
“2018 was a pivotal year for Integumen,” said chairman Ross Andrews.
“In August, with a reduced board of directors and new management the company set about converting the business model from the high volume, low-margin sale of consumer personal and healthcare products, to low-volume, high margin test services for manufacturers of skincare consumer products. The results to year-end were transformational.”
He added: “The increase in revenue per client and the current level of pipeline activity significantly higher than the company has experienced in the past, provides the board confidence that the accelerated growth, seen in 2018, will continue throughout the rest of 2019.”