Home ›› 31 Jan 2023 ›› Stock
Square Pharmaceuticals, the country’s largest drug maker, posted a 10.7 per cent year-on-year surge in net profit in the first half of the current fiscal year, while its peer Beximco Pharmaceuticals’ earnings depleted by 15.12 per cent.
Square Pharma reported Tk 1062 crore in net profit in the July-December period of the fiscal year 2022-23 which was Tk 964 crore in the same period last fiscal.
The publicly traded company’s H1 earnings per share (EPS) rose to Tk 11.99 from earnings per share of Tk 10.88 for the same period last year.
It posted a net profit of Tk 461 crore in the second quarter of FY23, which was Tk 411 crore in the same period last fiscal year.
During the period, the drug maker’s earnings per share stood at Tk 5.78 which was Tk 5.24 for the second quarter of FY22.
When Square Pharma displayed a handsome profit, the country’s another leading drug maker Beximco Pharmaceuticals suffered a year-on-year profit fall of 15.12 per cent in H1 of the fiscal year 2022-23.
The drug maker’s earnings shrank due mainly to an increase in cost of production.
Beximco Pharma logged a net profit of Tk 265 crore in first six months of the fiscal year 2022-23 against a profit of Tk 313 crore in the same period last fiscal year.
The consolidated EPS of Beximco Pharma stood at Tk 6.02 for the July-December period of FY23 against Tk 7.12 for the corresponding period of FY22.
Its total revenue stood at Tk 1,968 crore at the end of the first half, which was up 16 per cent than that in the same period last fiscal.
Despite a rise in H1 revenue, its earnings fell due mainly to an increase in cost of production and a consequent decrease in gross margin, the company said.
Moreover, the drug maker earned a net amount of Tk 61.9 crore during the July-December period of 2021 as vaccine distribution fee for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccine of Oxford-AstraZeneca under a tripartite agreement among the Serum Institute of India, the government of Bangladesh and Beximco Pharma.
The company’s H1 profit of the last year got inflated with that earnings, but with the end of that contract, there had been no income from such source in H1 of the current fiscal year, Beximco Pharma stated in its H1 financial report.
Beximco Pharma registered a quarterly EPS of Tk 2.77 for the October-December period of 2022, which was 28 per cent down from the EPS of Tk 3.84 for the same quarter last fiscal.
The drug maker earned a record profit of Tk 512 crore in FY21 riding on the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, and paid a 35 per cent cash dividend to its shareholders, the highest in its history.
Its consolidated net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) stood at Tk 5.33 for the July-December of 2022 against Tk 8.22 for the same period of 2021.
The firm’s consolidated net asset value (NAV) per share stood Tk 93.52 till December 2022.
Beximco Pharma said its net operating cash flow per share went down due mainly to the increased working capital investment, coupled with the record devaluation of the taka against the US dollar, soaring raw materials prices and higher domestic inflationary pressure.
Moreover, the company needed to maintain additional inventory to tackle any possible supply chain disruption and to support the organic business growth, the company stated.
Beximco Pharmaceuticals witnessed a plunge in exports in the fiscal year 2021–22 as the publicly traded company’s export receipts fell by 14 per cent in FY22 against the exports in the previous fiscal.
The company cited the supply chain disruptions, global economic slowdown, and eco-political issue playing roles behind that export fall.
Market analysts, however, said the company’s export earnings had surged exponentially after the outbreak of the coronavirus global pandemic riding on its massive exports of anti-Covid-19 drug—Remdesivir.
But, as the pandemic loosened its grip last year globally, the drug maker’s Remdesivir sales had dropped significantly, playing the key role to send its export earnings down, they added.
The listed pharma company’s net sales revenue, however, jumped by 17.5 per cent to Tk 3,466 crore in FY22 from Tk 2,949 crore in the previous fiscal.
Meanwhile, its domestic sales jumped by 21.3 per cent in the last fiscal year predominantly from the organic growth of business and the acquisition of Sanofi Bangladesh Limited and Nuvista Pharma.
The drug maker’s export receipts stood at Tk 268.5 crore in FY22 against Tk 312.4 crore in the previous year.
On the other hand, Beximco Group’s another company – Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd (Beximco) – reported a nearly 20 per cent slump in net profit in the October-December quarter of FY23.
Its EPS were Tk 3.6 in the October-December period of FY23 against Tk 4.45 for the same quarter of FY22.
Moreover, its profit stood at Tk 658.52 crore in July-December of FY23 which was Tk 759.75 crore in the same period of FY22.
