THE Stafford branch of a “life science” firm now supplies nearly half of the endoscopy technology bought by the NHS, according to latest figures.
PuriCore, whose UK base is in Staffordshire Technology Park, has seen an 88.6 per cent jump to £7.58 million in sales of the equipment in the six months to June.
It now supplies 47 per cent of the instruments - which are used to examine the inside of organs and body cavities - bought by the NHS.
Chief executive Chris Wightman said: “The first half of 2010 was notable for a number of achievements. Firstly, the significant increase in revenues from our endoscopy division has driven that business to sustained and increasing profitability.
“Our market share was just below half of all NHS supply chain endoscopy orders, which enabled us to deliver improved gross margins and greater operational leverage.” Despite the sales increase, the company still made losses of £3.3 million, mainly due to a drop of 43.2 per cent in the food safety arm of its business - which supplies the food, endoscopy, water and bioscience industries.
However, the firm recently won a major contract with Safeway.
Mr Wightman went on: “Despite these challenges, we have won two additional major accounts in the North American market, with a customer base representing more than 3,600 stores. We are poised to take advantage of any improvement in the economic climate.”
