Irish medical device group ClearStream yesterday reported a 29 per cent increase in revenue and said it had now turned the corner after several turbulent years. It expects full-year sales to be significantly ahead of market expectations.

The Wexford-based group said revenue rose to €1.83 million in the six months ended January 31st, from €1.39 million in the year-earlier period. Managing director Andy Jones attributed the gain in sales to improved distribution networks, which had enhanced the sale potential of the group's products, and to a general upturn in demand for its medical devices.

The firm's loss widened to €2.38 million, from €2.03 million.

ClearStream makes catheters and stents, which are scaffolding type devices that are used to prop open the artery so a balloon catheter can be fitted. These are used in minimally evasive surgical procedures to clear clogged arteries.

ClearStream operates through two sale channels. It sells its own branded devices through distributors, as well as selling unbranded devices to other medical device companies for their own use.

Mr Jones said the company, which was founded in 2000 following a management buyout of US group Angio Dynamics, had made several changes to its management during the past year and was already seeing the benefits. During the period it added nine new distributors, bringing the total to 29, and said it expected this number to increase during the second half of its financial year.

Mr Jones also said the company was ready to start selling Intrepide, its drug-eluting stent, into non-European markets. Unlike traditional stents, it is covered in a drug aimed at stemming biological reaction to the insertion of the stent into the body.

The introduction of the new product follows the signing of an agreement in December with an American company that is producing the device to be sold under the ClearStream name. It has applied for regulatory approval in Europe.

Earlier this month ClearStream, which is listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, said it planned to raise €4.4 million in a share sale to fund the development of the business.