17th February 2021

“Transformational” Period At Creo Medical

The chief executive of Chepstow-based Creo Medical has said the company has experienced a period of “transformational” change in a new trading update.

The company has reported that trading for the year ended 31 December 2020 was marginally ahead of management expectations, with revenue increasing to more than £9m. The business had a net cash position at 31 December 2020 in excess of £45m.

During 2020, Creo completed the acquisitions of Albyn Medical and Boucart Medical. The acquisitions provide the company with a direct sales presence in Europe to facilitate the roll-out of its CE marked advanced energy devices.

Additionally, the company has grown its commercial team. David Woods, previously a non-executive director of Creo and former president and chief executive of Pentax Americas, joined Creo full time as chief commercial officer.

At the beginning of 2020, Creo had a team of 91 people based almost exclusively in the UK, and by the end of the year the company had more than doubled the size of its team, with a 10-fold increase in its commercial, marketing and distribution resource and a presence across five European countries, four regions of the US and a centralised hub in APAC.

Chief executive Craig Gulliford said: “Despite Covid-19 having a short-term impact on the business, the last 12 months has been a period of transformational change for the company.  At the start of the pandemic, we asked the Creo team to focus on what they can achieve not what they can’t achieve; I believe that they have done just that.

“In addition to stepping up to provide our own Covid response in local communities, we have gained further CE marks and FDA regulatory approvals for our devices, organically grown talent.

“The regionalised nature of the group’s business hedges against pandemic related travel restrictions. With the roll out of Covid-19 vaccines underway, we look forward to realising our goals this year and beyond.”