DURBAN – Aspen Pharmacare’s share price surged by more than 5 percent on the JSE yesterday morning after the pharmaceutical company said it expected its annual earnings to increase as much as 11 percent.
But the share closed the day 1.47 percent lower at R140.84.
Its normalised headline earnings per share from continuing operations for the year to the end of June were likely to increase by between 7 and 11 percent, to between 1 438.9 cents and 1 492.8c a year, up from 1 344.8c last year. The group said normalised headline earnings per share was the primary measure used by management to assess Aspen's underlying financial performance.
Aspen expected its revenue to increase between 8 and 10 percent, or between 3 percent and 5 percent in constant exchange rates.
Revenue growth from commercial pharmaceuticals was expected to be between 5 percent and 7 percent, or 1 percent and 2 percent in constant exchange rates.
Its tangible and intangible asset impairments were likely to decline to R1.5 billion during the year, down from R3.8bn last year.
Aspen said the positive demand trends for Sterile Focus Brands used in the clinical management of Covid-19, the stockpiling of everyday healthcare products, and the advanced filling of prescriptions by consumers positively effected performance during the early and peak periods of Covid-19 infections across several regions.
“These positive trends were more than offset by a decrease in demand as stock levels normalised, delays in the recovery of elective surgeries in most regions and reduced infection rates in non-Covid-19 communicable diseases due to social distancing,” Aspen said.
Manufacturing revenue delivered double-digit growth during the period, both reported and in constant exchange rates, favourably impacted by the commercial sales of heparin to third parties. Non-heparin active pharmaceutical ingredient sales had performed particularly well in the second half of 2020, assisted by its ability to ensure a consistent supply of product to the market despite the pandemic.
Net borrowings declined to R35.2bn at the end of June, down from R37.9bn compared to last year.
Aspen expects to release its results on September 9.
BUSINESS REPORT