Liver cancer treatments group Sirtex Medical says dosage sales in the first three months of the current financial year have been flat and sales revenue is down because of adverse currency movements, but profit is improving.
Chief executive Andrew McClean has told shareholders that the first quarter is showing "some early favourable results" from the company's efforts to improve efficiency and productivity.
Sirtex's main product is a medical device called SIR-Spheres Y-90 resin microspheres, to treat liver cancer.
The device comprises radioactive microspheres that lodge within the capillaries supplying liver tumours, providing high doses of radiation directly to the cancer and minimising damage to normal cells.
"Dose sales are effectively flat with the same quarter last year," Mr McClean said at the company's annual general meeting in Sydney.
"Sales revenue is down about five per cent, driven by unfavourable currency effects, rather than decreases in price.
"However, the important thing to note is that constant currency profit before tax is up 11.3 per cent for the quarter versus the prior corresponding period, and including the unfavourable foreign exchange impact, up 2.9 per cent."
Mr McClean, who has been at Sirtex for five months, said the company knew that the first quarter was going to be hard considering the "distracting" events of last financial year.
But, he said, the company was now more stable, had new marketing leadership in the key US market, and expected a better alignment between costs and sales.
He said the start of revenue from newer markets and sales growth initiatives should underpin earnings growth in fiscal 2018.
Sirtex ended a challenging year in 2016/17 with a $26.3 million loss mainly because of a $90.5 million writedown on the value of major clinical trials that failed to meet their primary end-points, and restructuring costs.
Although sales of its radiation therapy for liver cancer lifted globally, sales growth in its largest market, America, slowed.
Sirtex said at the time that referrals for the treatment had fallen as competition for patients increased, including from drug-based therapies.
Sirtex shares were three cents, or 0.2 per cent, higher at $14.15 at 1414 AEDT.
