Trinity Biotech plunged into the red in the second quarter, with losses before tax of $3.8 million (€2.9 million) attributed to acquisition write-offs during the three months to the end of June. The loss per American Depositary Receipts was 11.7 cent compared to earnings of 7.5 cent last time.

Shares in the Nasdaq-quoted but Dublin-based diagnostic products group fell by 1.61 per cent yesterday to $7.93.

The company wrote off inventory valued at $5.8 million following the decision to discontinue some product lines at the blood products business bought from bioMerieux in June for $52 million.

Revenues during the quarter were $27.3 million compared to $22.7 million in the same quarter last year. Operating profit before the inventory write off and the cost of expensing share options was $2.34 million, according to the company. Gross profit before the inventory write-off was $13.16 million, representing a gross margin of 48.2 per cent. This compares to gross profit of €10.71 million and gross margin of 47.2 per cent in the same period last year.

The chief financial officer of Trinity Biotech, Rory Nealon said: "Our financial performance during the quarter has been impressive in that we have experienced strong growth in both revenues and profits . . . our Ebitda [ earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation] for the quarter also exceeded $3.5 million for the first time".