Graseby Plc is looking to its medical business, expanded with the acquisition of Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co’s Infusion Therapy business (CI No 2,895) in July to spearhead the company’s recovery in 1997. The company reckons it is showing strong recovery from the second half of last year, and has seen revenue up 9% at 49m British pounds, although profits fell 7% to 5m pounds. The restructuring Graseby went through last year (CI No 2,883), has enabled some improvement in profits from the Environmental division, in spite of sales remaining static. The division saw profits of 1.3m pounds, double that of a year ago, the company said, despite sales being flat at 10.7m pounds. The US market is still proving difficult for the company, with demand for its air monitoring products slack, since there have as yet been no legislative or regulatory initiatives, Graseby said. The technology division saw sales up 23% on last year to 13.5m pounds, and its chemical agent monitoring instrument s have seen strong overseas interest. Earlier this year the company won an order for its GID 3 chemical agent detection system form the US Department of Defense, as part of its ACADA, Automatic Chemical Agent Detection and Alarm program (CI No 2,883 ). Graseby chief executive Paul Lester reckons that the contract could be worth up to 32m pounds to Graseby over the next five years, following succesful completion of the first phase of the project. Lester said that he expects improvements in the product monitoring business, which saw profits tumble in the first half, and said there will be further cost reduction in this area. The company saw net borrowings fall by 1.1m pounds to 3.5m pounds at the end of June, and gearing was down 13%. The interim dividend of 2.7 pence remains unchanged.
