Consolidated sales of the veterinary health company Ceva Group reached FRA$310 million in the first six months of 2013, up by 2 percent, 4.2 percent from the previous year at a constant perimeter and exchange rates.
Ceva recorded solid growth of 9 percent on a constant basis, if two factors are excluded. The first is lower-than-anticipated sales of its flea and tick control medicine, Vectra, in the United States. A long winter delayed the start of the flea and tick season. Despite this, Vectra was dispensed by veterinarians more than its competitors by 7.8 percentage points. The second factor is the unfavorable exchange rate movements of the U.S. dollar, and other currencies in most of the emerging economies had a negative impact.
The poultry vaccine, services and equipment offer led by the combination of Transmune IBD and Vectormune ND, which allows vaccination against three major diseases in the hatchery, drove growth throughout the world. Sales of avian vaccines grew by 18 percent with Asia, Latin America, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa/Middle East all registering double digit growth figures. U.S. sales increased by 9 percent.
The pharmaceuticals business also continued to grow even with the impact of lower Vectra sales. The behavior products Feliway and Adaptil posted a 22 percent rise in sales.
Geographically, the overall animal health market has been affected by the same economic factors that have divided the world into three economic blocks. The countries of "old Europe" are generally in real crisis with little or often negative growth. This slowdown resulted in severe price competition, particularly in the antibiotics market where the health authorities are also committed to reducing the total use in livestock. In North America, the economy is close to taking off once more. In general terms, the emerging economies have maintained high levels of growth.
In Ceva's home market of France, sales were up 6 percent against a flat market. Central Europe and Turkey confirmed the growth trend posted in 2012 with Russia up 28 percent and Turkey, 11 percent. The Latin America zone was up 10.9 percent.
Commenting on the results, Ceva chairman and CEO Marc Prikazsky said, "The first half of 2013 was operationally difficult, demonstrating that we cannot take our trend of constant growth as given. The overall global market was very challenging underlining the need for innovation to drive further expansion. In these circumstances, I am extremely pleased that our teams have once again demonstrated their ability to deliver strong organic growth."
