Gedeon Richter Earnings Slip as Financial Gains Narrow

First-quarter net income of Hungarian pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter fell 4% year-on-year to HUF 65.3 billion as operating profit stagnated and net financial gains narrowed, an earnings report published ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday shows.

Revenue edged down 2% to HUF 220.2 billion, impacted by the continuing trend of the weaker dollar and stronger forint. Cost of sales climbed 5% to HUF 72.5 billion, causing gross profit to fall 5% to HUF 147.8 billion. Operating profit edged down a little more than half a percent to HUF 67.4 billion.

Richter booked net financial income of HUF 10.5 billion in Q1, down from a HUF 13.4 billion gain in the base period. Earnings per share came to HUF 357.

North America was Richter's biggest market during the period, generating pharmaceutical revenue of HUF 66.8 billion. Royalties from sales of Vraylar, the brand name there for Richter's antipsychotic cariprazine, rose 4% to HUF 59 billion.

Sales in Western Europe came to HUF 45.9 billion and sales in Central Europe reached 44.7 billion. In Eastern Europe, revenue was HUF 39.1 billion.

Richter affirmed full-year guidance for pharma revenue growth and adjusted operating profit, at constant exchange rates, in the "high single digits". First-quarter revenue growth, at constant exchange rates, was 5.9%. Clean EBIT growth reached 15% during the period.