Better margins help Gedeon Richter to shake off stalling sales growth

Revenues at Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter (RICHT: HB) slipped by 1% in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017, coming in at 224.43 billion forint ($809.7 million), a decrease blamed partly on currency fluctuations.

Better gross and operating margins helped profit from operations to rise by 8% to 35,684 million forint, while net financial income grew to 5.76 billion forint. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciates and demortization jumped by 5.4% to 53.26 billion forint, and basic earnings per share rose 34% to 208 forint.

There was sales growth for certain products, but this was offset by the exchange rate movements and also by a 53% decrease in sales of the uterine fibroids drug Esmya (ulipristal acetate), which has been linked to cases of serious liver injury. They slipped to 6.36 billion forint for the January to June 2018 period, while a year ago they were 13.65 billion forint.