Venture Life Group reiterates FY21 guidance to investors
(VLG ) expects to report £32.6 million in revenue for the year ended 31 December 2021, up 8% on the year to 31 December 2020 in which it reported £30.1 million.
In a trading update, the consumer-focused self-care company reiterated its guidance stated in a previous update ahead of its FY21 results which are expected to be published in May 2022.
This guidance also covers revenue from the second half of the year which came to £18.7 million, an increase of 35% over the revenues in the first half of the year of £13.9 million.
Adjusted EBITDA for the period is also expected to be in line with market expectations.
Venture Life Group, whose self care products are typically recommended by pharmacists or healthcare practitioners and are available primarily through pharmacies and grocery multiples, said momentum has been building following its acquisitions of BBI Healthcare and Helsinn.
The Company said these successful integrations have been demonstrated by its fourth quarter of the financial year where revenue was 59% above that in its third quarter.
Post-period, Venture Life Group announced that it had appointed a new partner, Samarkand Global, for its oral care products in China with shipments having already commenced.
Meanwhile, the Company also told investors that a leading health and beauty retailer in the UK had confirmed that they will launch its in-house developed product for rosacea in the UK and Ireland later in 1H22 with the product being marketed under the client’s own brand. Venture Life said this could pave the way for future collaboration with this large client.
In addition, another key UK health and beauty retailer will launch Venture Life’s Wart & Verruca Pen and Women’s Intimate Gel in 2H22 under their own brand while other new agreements have also been recently completed for other products in other territories.
In January 2022, the Company acknowleged that one of these new agreements signed as a result of its previous acquisitions had been signed for Pomi-T in Germany, marking the start of an expansion plan into key markets around the world, in another of the 5 major EU markets.
Net debt came to £3.2m pre-IFRS16 (£7.3m IFRS16) which Venture Life says reflects a phasing effect on working capital as a result of higher receivables after strong 4Q revenue.
Addressing sharedholders in January 2022, Jerry Randall, CEO of Venture Life said: “The acquisitions we made in 2021 are now fully integrated and have performed extremely well, contributing significantly to our strong growth in revenue and profitability in the second half.”
Randall acknowledged that 2021 had been a difficult year given the significant headwinds experienced. He added that Venture Life had started 2022 with an order book significantly ahead of the same time last year, granting it “a good level of confidence” for the year ahead.
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Venture Life, which has reiterated its guidance for the year to 31 December 2021, confirmed that its FY21 results would be delayed for a second time until early May 2022 as auditors continue to experience resourcing issues and therefore require additional time to finalise their work.
Despite the delays, Venture Life Group reiterated to investors that it expects to report an 8% increase in revenue for 2021 and although it didn't provide a figure, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will also remain in line with market expectations.
As we understand it, auditors everywhere are under pressure to deliver to timelines. In recent weeks, S4 Capital, the digital advertising company owned by Sir Martin Sorrell, postponed the publication of its full year results just hours before it had planned to present them to investors.
This was the second time in a month that S4 had delayed its results. While the first delay was due to auditor PwC needing more time "because of the impact of Covid and Omicron on travel and resource allocation”, the most recent delay was attributed to “an accounting issue.”
In the case of Venture Life Group, however, nothing has changed in regard to numbers, the group reiterated to its shareholders this morning. It added that momentum in FY22 continues.
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