Biotage, which supplies tools and technology to the life sciences sector, has announced results for the first half of the year. Excluding the Chem Dev product area which is being closed down, the firm said sales increased by 8 per cent in both quarters.

However, overall sales were stagnant at around SEK250m (€26.6m), although a drop in operating expenses helped the company turn a SEK13.1m pre-tax loss between January and June 2006, into a pre-tax profit of SEK19m in the same period this year.

During the first six months, Biotage also signed an agreement with one of China's leading contract research companies, Shanghai Chempartner, concerning the delivery of instruments.

The order was worth approximately SEK10m, making it Biotage's single largest order from China to date. The firm also introduced a new market segment, called Molecular Imaging.

Meanwhile, Celsis International, a life sciences products and laboratory services company, has announced its first interim management statement for the quarter ending June 2006.

The firm claims the results are "very encouraging" across all its divisions, including the analytical services division and the rapid detection division. In the latter case, Celsis is hoping to begin customer testing of its new nucleic acid-based testing systems by the end of the year.

The company said its financial position has recently been helped by an accelerated payment of $2.2m in June 2007, which reduced its bank loan from the acquisition of In Vitro Technologies, to $7.5m. The integration of this new products and services division "is proceeding according to plan", the firm added.

Meanwhile, Celsis said it will "continue to invest in existing and new business areas, and identify new opportunities beyond its current product and service offerings".