Blood-flow monitoring expert LiDCO is moving into the surgical theatre market through a new device that it hopes will accelerate growth and lead it into profitability.

Thus far, the group’s LiDCOplus machines have been used in intensive or critical care situations, to ensure oxygen is circulating properly around the body. In the four years since the Hackney-based business floated, sales have steadily increased on the back of this one high-margin product and associated disposable parts. Indeed, results for the year to January revealed a 23% reduction in net losses to £2m, on turnover increased 18% to £4.1m, as LiDCOplus continued to win over hospitals based on its ability to reduce mortality rates and infections and shorten patient stay.

Significantly, a six-month trial of the newly launched LiDCOrapid product, addressing the growing surgery market, showed that Rapid was able to ‘halve deaths’. Now that EU approval for the product has been granted, chief executive Terry O'Brien says, ‘Critical care is not as big a market as surgery, and I think [LiDCOrapid] will overtake LiDCOplus in a year or two.’

Broker Panmure Gordon expects the product, which is being rolled out in the UK and Europe, to add more than £1.3m of revenue to the top line this year and sees the company, which reported year-end cash of £2.2m, as having sufficient cash to reach positive cash-breakeven ‘in full-year 2010’.

Up from March’s all-time nadir of 6.62p, yet substantially below 2002’s 140p issue price, LiDCO shares could make a further revival if the new product takes off.

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LiDCO	AIM	£12.07m	8.50p	0.00p
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