Dunfermline-BASED retinal imaging firm Optos expects to significantly ramp up sales of its high-tech scanning units this summer, as it seeks to attract distributors and increases market share.
Chief executive Roy Davis told The Courier it remained his aim to increase the number of Daytona scanning units sold from the firm’s Fife manufacturing site.
He was speaking as Optos posted a 4% slide in overall revenues to $40.3m during the three months to the end of December.
But the firm said it had seen “strong” underlying growth of 18% in the period driven by a large volume of capital sales if rental payments were accounted as operating leases.
Mr Davis highlighted an improved performance for the “pivotal” Daytona scanning system, which helped the firm towards a total of 274 new customers in the quarter.
“We have sold more relative to the prior year, and it is worth saying that quarter one is our quietest period of the year,” he said.
“We put in 267 Daytona and continued to see a good pipeline of customers with interest in our products.
“We’re probably where I would have expected us to be, recognising that the quarter is probably the weakest quarter in the year.”
He said market conditions in Europe remained “a bit soft” but with Optos only completing 15% of its business there, and targeting expansion across the globe the impact of economic turmoil on the Continent had a limited effect on the company’s fortunes.
Mr Davis said his company was in the throes of a natural evolution as it switched from rental income to a more balanced business model, with an increased proportion of capital sales.
Revenue from finance leases fell more than 20% on the same period last year, against a tough comparator in which a large number of rental deals were renewed.
Revenues from operating leases fell by 65% to $5.9m, while there were significant increases from outright sales and service and warranty activity.
Mr Davis said he expected distributors would increasingly pick up the firm’s products over the next 12 months.
“Capital sales are an essential part of our business going forward,” he said. “As we move into the second half of this year and into next year, we hope to be getting into distribution big time.”
The firm already has 100 sales reps in the USA, and also secured a 250-unit rental deal to supply an unnamed “major corporate” during the reporting period.
Mr Davis said early second-quarter trading was strong, with the group also experiencing continued demand for its other ophthalmology products.
He praised the firm’s 185-strong, “highly-skilled” workforce, saying he would expect Optos’ operations in Scotland to grow alongside the increasing demand.
business@thecourier.co.uk