Itaconix PLC in September said its loss widened in the first half of 2024, as second-half trading to date puts its revenue expectations at the upper end of its weaker year-on-year forecast.

The London-based manufacturer of plant-based polymers said its pretax loss during the six months that ended June 30 widened to $1.0 million from $682,000 the year before.

Revenue fell 30% to $2.8 million from $4.0 million, while cost of sales fell 41% to $1.7 million from $2.9 million last year.

Itaconix said on Tuesday that trading during its second half has been in line with expectations, and that revenue growth compared to the first half has been supported by ‘volume increases in the EU and North America, increased volumes with cleaning usage in new brands, steady beauty volumes, and growth in hygiene revenues’.

The company now expects full-year revenue to be at the upper end of its previous forecast of between $6.0 million and $6.5 million. This would represent between an 18% and 24% fall in revenue from $7.9 million in 2023.

Itaconix still expects gross profit margins to be in line with prior guidance of around 36%, compared to 31% in 2023.

Chief Executive Officer John Shaw said: ‘Our progress in the second half continues to show strong results from our efforts to expand and diversify our customer base with more profitable revenues. Our major investments in new marketing capabilities, new products, additional product studies, global regulatory approvals, better production, and organisational development are starting to pay off with the types of customers and revenues that we want to reach profitably and become a large, highly-attractive specialty ingredients company.’

Shares in Itaconix were up 6.9% at 147.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

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