OMEGA Diagnostics has unveiled a further order from a new partner in China, worth about £400,000, for a food-intolerance test developed by the Clackmannanshire-based company.
The Scottish company hailed the latest order as a demonstration of the potential of the market in China.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: No escape from Johnson’s dire Brexit farce in Paris metro and airport
Omega said the new partner in China, which it has not named but is believed to distribute into a food-intolerance market that includes dieticians, nutritionists and doctors’ surgeries, had submitted a purchase order for 28,000 units of the 46-panel “Food Detective” test. This product tests intolerance to a raft of different foods, including cereals, meat, fish and vegetables.
Omega expects the latest order will be supplied by early November. It follows an initial order from the Chinese partner, for 20,000 units, announced on August 16 and worth around £290,000.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Very British bravado on Brexit from Johnson fuels fears for UK future
Colin King, chief executive of Omega, said: “I am delighted that we have received a second purchase order for our new Chinese Food Detective test as this demonstrates the exciting potential in this market. As a result of the work undertaken by our partner and our internal development team, our Chinese strategy continues to deliver ahead of the original timeline.”
Shares in Omega closed 0.5p or 4.4 per cent higher at 11.75p.
Omega said last month that revenues from its food-intolerance business rose by 7% to £8.05 million in the year to March 31.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Boris Johnson suspension of Parliament spells grave Brexit jeopardy for UK
Broker FinnCap said yesterday that it estimated this division of Omega’s business would have generated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around £3m in the year to March, up from about £2.7m in the prior 12 months.
Omega last month said its overall turnover for the year to March was expected to be £9.76m, down from £13.55m. It added that turnover from continuing operations was expected to be 5% higher at £8.76m.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here