When Vectura bought Skyepharma for £441 million in the summer, it looked like a sensible deal between two middle-ranking British pharmaceuticals companies in which both contributed products with little obvious overlap. They make treatments for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but have different technologies to deliver these. Vectura uses dry powder and Skyepharma aerosol inhalers.
The first set of interim figures shows revenues up by 31 per cent on a strictly comparable basis, driven by higher sales of the seven products on the market. Sales of flutiform, Skyepharma’s most significant compound, rose by 35 per cent. Pro forma earnings were ahead by 63 per cent at £30.8 million.
The company gets most of its revenues from joint ventures with a stable of other, larger