LIFE sciences company Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings plc (IDS) today revealed a sharp drop in profits and announced that chief executive Ian Cookson is stepping down with immediate effect.

Cookson’s departure follows David Evans’ resignation as chairman and Paul Hailes’ as chief financial officer. The Boldon-based business, best known for its Vitamin D tests, said it was in talks with a candidate to replace Cookson.

IDS today reported a 7% rise in revenues to £53.7m, but pre-tax profits fell to £7.3m from £16.5m in the year to the end of March. Its adjusted pre-tax profits fell by 9.5% to £14.9m.

The company also reported a 57% rise in revenues from its flagship IDS-iSYS automated testing machines, while sales from its manual testing kits, which account for 66% of the group’s earnings, were down by 8%.

Dr Anthony Martin, non-executive chairman, said: “Today we announce that Ian Cookson is stepping down with immediate effect as chief executive officer.

“The board is currently in discussions with a candidate who has substantial diagnostic and international industry experience and hopes to announce an appointment to the role of CEO in the near future.

“The board is working hard to continue to build the company and increase shareholder value in what is a challenging business environment.

“Despite the much more competitive market, we have increased revenues from our vitamin D product range while at the same time diversifying our overall product range to broaden the appeal of our IDS-iSYS system.

“We continue to monitor costs to ensure resources are targeted at the key drivers for the business.”