German company Evotec increased its revenues by 311 per cent after merging with chemistry company Oxford Asymmetry.

The company, now split between Hamburg and Milton Park, near Abingdon, achieved revenues of £16m in the first half of 2001. Losses were up slightly at £6m.

The drug discovery service division of Evotec OAI achieved revenues of £14m, up from £300,000.

The company said it had "a very healthy cash position" of more than £20m, with a cash burn related to operations of an average £990,000 per month in the first six months. In the six months since the merger with Oxford Asymmetry International significant progress had been made in integrating both parts of the company. Business development, IT and finance were the first functions to be successfully combined.

It added: "Specialists from our chemistry division in Oxford and our biology group in Hamburg are crafting a truly unique product offering spanning the entire drug discovery phase."

It said: "We are pleased with our performance in the first half of 2001. We extended our customer portfolio of blue-chip pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.

"We for the first time successfully sold exciting, integrated services to new and existing customers."