The Leeds-based firm was hit by delays in elective surgeries as countries prioritised getting to grips with the pandemic.

Surgical Innovations reported a 41 per cent reduction in revenues to £6.33m from £10.73m in 2019. The firm passed its low point in May 2020.

However, revenue in the second half of the year was up 44 per cent over first half at £3.74m

Surigical Innovations also slid to an adjusted operating pre-tax loss of £1.61m.

Nigel Rogers, chairman of Surgical Innovations, said: “Trading in the first two months of the current year continues to be constrained by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Despite this, group revenue is 11 per cent ahead of the corresponding period last year; a period in which our key markets were largely unaffected.

“This indicates the continuing resilience of the business, however, given the continued uncertainty of the global pandemic, we will look to reinstate guidance at a later date when there is greater clarity on the timing of the expected recovery in elective surgery from our partners and customers.

“Whilst the UK market is unsurprisingly down by almost a third compared with last year, key international markets are showing strong growth, especially in the US and Japan.

“European demand is more muted, and likely to remain so at least through the first half of the year.

“Encouragingly, whilst demand in the UK has been suppressed, we are beginning to see early-stage signs that the UK market is recovering and expect this to sharply improve in the second quarter, with momentum building through the year as the backlog of elective surgery cases is tackled.

“We also expect to outperform the UK market due to new business wins during the downturn.

“Since the beginning of 2021, we have completed several key partnership agreements to expand our reach in the US market and secure a broader range of products for UK distribution.

“We have also made continued progress in developing the sustainability message, and in product development, where we expect to extend the SI branded range through the launch of a number of new products in the second half of the year.

“Accordingly, having demonstrated strength and resilience throughout 2020, the group is now ideally positioned to build exciting growth as markets continue to recover.”