Indies revenues slowed from lack of inventory, not demand
Published:Wednesday | December 18, 2019 | 12:00 AM
The annual sales and profit at Indies Pharma Limited grew by double digit for the listed firm, but its fourth-quarter earnings slowed due to lack of inventory in key products.
Earnings per share increased to $0.11 cents per share from $0.09 in 2018.
The growth in the financial year reflected organic rather than acquisitive growth, stated Guna Muppuri in response to Financial Gleaner queries.
“Sales went up due to our in-house measures put in place,” he added.
Indies Pharma achieved revenues of $726 million, representing an increase of 14 per cent or $89.7 million over the corresponding period in 2018. Net profit increased to $140.5 million, a 17 per cent increase or a $20.8-million gain when compared to the corresponding period the previous year.
Its fourth-quarter results show revenue down 19.7 per cent to $150 million and profit down 40 per cent to $22 million when compared with the first quarter a year earlier. The fourth-quarter decline was not the result of lower customer demand but rather lack of inventory on key products, according to Muppuri.
“Generally, our historical performance has been such that one of the quarters have evidenced lower performance. In this case, we were out of stock for a few key products, and also our supplies to the National Health Fund has slowed down due to non-renewal of the existing supply contracts,” stated Muppuri.
The Indies Pharma stock price closed at $3.16 in October 2019, representing an increase of 111 per cent or $1.66 per share since the company’s junior market Listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, JSE.
Indies Pharma was incorporated in December 2003. The registered office of the company is Unit #5 Montego Bay Trade Centre, Catherine Hall, Montego Bay, St James. The company primarily distributes and retails pharmaceutical and auxiliary products. Its shares were listed in August 2018 on the junior market of the JSE.