AFT Pharmaceuticals expected second half sales and earnings to be greater than the first half. Photo: OKSANA KAZYKINA/123RF
Drug maker AFT Pharmaceuticals has reported a strong first-half result with revenue up a third over the year earlier.
The company best known for its Maxigesic pain medication made a first net half profit compared with a loss the year earlier, with the businesses Australian divison being its largest generator of revenue and profit.
Key numbers for the six months ended September compared with a year ago:
- Net profit $2.7.m vs $2.5m net loss
- Revenue $114.9m vs $86.7m
- Underlying profit $4.7m vs $1.8m loss
"We're seeing some good, solid growth right across the board," managing director Dr Hartley Atkinson said.
"We're starting to get great attraction now in our global expansion, we're selling in 85 countries around the globe."
Atkinson said the company was continuing to invest in research and development, which was expected to pay off in the long run.
"Despite our big spend in R&D and on advancing the business, we've still got a really good increase - 363 percent increase in profit over the year, which is really driven by higher sales."
AFT expected second half sales and earnings to be greater than the first half.
He said AFT was on track to deliver a full year operating profit in a range of $20m to $24m and to further advance its multi-year growth strategy.
"We continue to make good progress advancing the development of our international business hubs in markets that share similar characteristics with our highly successful Australasian operations," he said.
"We expect our business hubs in the United Kingdom and South Africa to begin to contribute to earnings in the second half of the year, validating the potential we see in these markets and our investment in them.
"We meanwhile are seeing continuing strong interest in our development portfolio with an out-licensing agreement for our novel iron therapy secured in China, the worlds' second largest pharma market after the end of the period. We are excited about the expanding prospects for our company."
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