OMEGA Diagnostics has declared “significant progress” on a number of its key objectives as it said revenue and profits for the first half of its year were in line with expectations.

The Alva-based life sciences group said the prognosis for the next 12 to 18 months remained positive as it moves towards getting European accreditation for its HIV-testing kit.

Turnover is expected to be £7.11m when interim results are published on December 14, in line with last year’s first half in constant currency terms and four per cent ahead on an actual basis.

Profit before tax is in line with expectations at the half-year stage, the group said.

Sales in the company’s food intolerance division climbed four per cent on an underlying basis, to £3.8m, driven by its FoodPrint product's success in the US.

Last week it announced a key contract in the country, taking its partners to three.

“We continue to believe that the US market represents a key driver for growth in what is the world’s largest market for food sensitivity testing,” said the group.

Allergy and autoimmune sales were down 11 per cent, after a particularly wet July in Germany suppressed air-borne allergens, therefore reducing the number of tests being prescribed.

In its infectious disease division, underlying sales were up one per cent, with Omega noting that the segment has started to benefit from initial sales of the Visitect range of Malaria tests manufactured at the facility in Pune, India.

Visitect CD4 meanwhile is a testing kit which will allow field workers to remotely test HIV patients to ascertain the drugs they may need.

The group has conducted a series of successful trials of the much-delayed Visitect product and is confident it will achieve CE-Marking before the end of 2017.

David Evans, Omega chairman said: “We continue to advance as a company in all our key areas and the outlook over the next twelve to eighteen months remains positive - the shorter term is dominated by factors not wholly within our control.”