Prospects are looking healthy for Tyneside medical firm

Dec 1 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

MEDICAL testing company IDS has seen its profits more than treble amidst soaring growth in global demand for pioneering products which detect disease and the firm is now looking to create 50 jobs.

The Boldon-based company, which also has subsidiaries in the US, Germany, France, Denmark, Finland and Belgium, reported a 188% jump in its interim pre-tax profits to £4.6m in the six months to the end of September, while revenues increased by 56% to £16.9m compared to the same period last year.

Broker Brewin Dolphin is now looking for acquisitions and predicting a full-year turnover of £35m, with pre-tax profits of around £10.3m.

Sales of the company’s flagship vitamin D testing products jumped by 104% year-on-year in the first half following the launching its IDS-iSYS testing machine.

Chief executive Roger Duggan said: “We are active in an area of specialised laboratory testing which is seeing unrelenting growth. The vitamin D market is doubling every 18 months to two years.”

Detecting vitamin D deficiency can show the possible onset of serious conditions such as colon, breast and prostate cancer and IDS is benefiting from increased public awareness of this.

It has sold 43 IDS-iSYS machines since launching the product globally – fewer than it expected but the company remains confident that the system will become a key driver in its growth with 70 on order.

“The evaluation of the machine which we put into the laboratories is taking longer than we expected,” said Mr Duggan.

“It’s a brand new instrument, which is a strength in one way, but historically, IDS is not seen as an instrument company so they want to take a long, hard look.”