Positive sales figures at Optos see shares soar

City Editor

Tuesday 16 October 2012

SHARES in Fife-based retinal imaging company Optos rose 6.2% after it posted sales figures ahead of the expectations of a sceptical market.

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TIM SHARP CITY EDITOR

In an announcement to the stock market, the Dunfermline company said a strong set of final quarter sales meant revenues for the year to September 30 are expected to exceed $190 million (£118m).

Operating profit is also expected to be "slightly above" City estimates.

Many analysts had cut their forecasts earlier this year, hitting Optos's share price, because they were not convinced the company would achieve anticipated sales of its new, more compact Daytona wide-filed scanning device.Chief executive Roy Davis said: "I am delighted with the company's achievements this year and, in particular, the manufacturing scale-up and market roll-out of Daytona. The reaction to this instrument has been very positive and I am excited by the opportunities it brings to the business."The news prompted broker Panmure Gordon to upgrade the stock from "hold" to "buy" and raise its target price from 230p to 320p. Optos's shares closed up 12.13p or 6.2% at 209p.Optos's retinal scanning devices allow 200-degree imaging, which the company says supports practitioners in diagnosing, analysing and monitoring conditions that may first present towards the edge of the eye and could go undetected using traditional techniques.Installations of its core wide-field products increased 11% in the year to 4700, Optos reported. It said manufacturing of its Daytona device, which occurs at its headquarters in Fife, has reached planned capacity in the last quarter. This, it said, had allowed it to clear its order backlog for 2012 and it now has 329 devices installed.Margins will improve in 2013 as production volumes pick up, Optos added.In its first half, Optos was stung by a $1.6m payout to a group of Optos's field engineers in the US, who said they were owed overtime after being wrongly employed on salaried rather than hourly contracts.Mr Davis joined Optos in November 2008, having run medical device company Gyrus.

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Positive sales figures at Optos see shares soar

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