Orthopaedic devices firm Corin saw revenue growth outside of Europe compensate for sluggish conditions in the UK and Germany in the first half of 2011.

Group sales rose 1% to £22.1m in the first half of 2011 from £21.9m in the first half of last year, although with exchange rate fluctuations removed from the equations, sales dipped 1%.

Sales of Hip products rose 14% year-on-year to £11,7m from £10.2m last year, but revenue from Knee products tumbled 20% to £3.7m from £4.7m.

Profit before tax and exceptional items more than halved to £0.31m from £0.64m.

Geographically, it was a case of swings and roundabouts for the group.

Sales in the UK fell 9% to £3.8m from £4.3m the year before, as spending cuts in the Natonal Health Service (NHS) started to bite.

In Germany, sales dipped 12% to £2.1m from £2.4m last year, while in the rest of Europe turnover tumbled 24% to £2.1m from £2.7m.

In contrast, sales in Australia - where the company's ligament augmentation and reconstruction system (LARS) had been enjoying explosive growth - grew 12%, or 3% using constant exchange rates (CER) to £6.2m from £3.0m last year.

Sales in Japan rose 16% (CER:+10%) to £3.5m to £3.0m, while in the USA, where the company recently terminated a distribution agreement with US sector peer Stryker, sales grew by 87% (CER:+93%).

"These results reflect the continued rebalancing of our portfolio towards our non MoM [metal-on-metal] products. The encouraging level of growth demonstrates that the strategy is on course," claimed Corin's chief executive, Peter Huntley.

"We are excited about delivering the next stage of our strategy, the total knee system, which is progressing well, with evaluation surgeries on schedule for Q4 this year," Huntley added.

The interim dividend has been maintained at 0.48p, despite not being covered by earnings; the company reported a loss per share of 0.56p, and underlying earnings per share of 0.38p.

The share price of Corin rose half a penny to 44.5p on the results.

--
jh

Related share prices
Corin Group (CRG) share price