Local drugmaker AFT Pharmaceuticals has posted a lower full-year profit as the pandemic and disruptions to its supply chain affected sales.
AFT Pharmaceuticals' underlying profit for the year was $10.8m, in line with guidance given last month. Photo: 123RF
The company reported a net profit of $7.8 million for the year ended March compared with a profit of $12.7m the year before, although that was inflated by a $9.8m one-off gain.
AFT managing director Hartley Atkinson said the year had been challenging but the company had made progress in revenue and recognition of its key product, the Maxigesic painkiller range.
"We have delivered these improved financial results in the face of multiple supply disruptions, delays to product launches, to regulatory approvals and to manufacturing audits around the world."
Its underlying profit for the year was $10.8m, in line with guidance given last month.
Revenue for the year was up 7 percent to a record $113m, as sales grew strongly in Australia and the rest of the world, and modestly in New Zealand, which offset lower sales in Asia.
Atkinson said Covid-19 travel restrictions had hurt its ability to conduct negotiations in person and interrupted audits of its production facilities.
However, the company had countered the disruptions through raising stock levels, diversifying manufacturing, and managing its finances through a $12m capital raising, and cutting debt to $35.2m.
The company is forecasting an operating profit range of $18m to $23m for the coming financial year, with new product launches in its home markets, and further roll out of products in North America and Europe, although it acknowledged "some uncertainty".
"We continue to monitor the economic and financial effects of the pandemic and we are particularly attuned to the impact on sales, prices and supply interruptions and we will continue to take steps to mitigate these risks," Hartley said.
The company would look at paying dividends in a year once debt was down in its target $25m to $30m range.