Genetics best performer for Benchmark

BENCHMARK reported a revenue rise from £109 million to £140 million in preliminary results for its last financial year, ending September 2017.
Losses in the aquaculture health, nutrition and genetics business were down, from £20.5 million to £7.6 million, while EBITDA increased nine per cent to £10 million, the company announced today.
Malcolm Pye, Benchmark’s CEO, said 2017 had been a year of ‘significant operational and strategic progress’.
‘Despite certain challenges, we have continued our focused investment in the development of the group’s pipeline and have put in place important technological, infrastructure and organisational building blocks.
‘Benchmark is now one of the leading global providers of advanced nutrition, genetics and animal health in the industry.
‘The organic growth delivered in the year and the  achievement of significant milestones, together with the increased activity in many of our key markets at the end of the year, leaves us full of confidence going into the new financial year.
‘The continued growing global demand for aquaculture products, the disease challenges faced, and pressure to limit the use of antibiotics, puts the group in a strong position to drive growth for many years to come.’
Sales in animal health decreased from £24.8 million to £15.1 million as a result of a drop in sales of Salmosan.
Investment in R&D, which included the development of the Clean Treat water purification system, amounted to £15.2 million in total.
The strongest performance in the group was in its genetics division, which reported a 47 per cent sales growth to £30.5 million, driven by increased demand for salmon eggs with sales up in every major market.
Picture: Benchmark CEO Malcolm Pye