Richter: Faster Than Expected Growth in the 2nd Quarter

In the second quarter of this year, the Hungarian pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter's sales and profit exceeded analysts' expectations: sales increased by 23.7% to HUF 192.9 billion and profit after tax more than doubled to HUF 77.1 billion in April-June compared to the same period last year, the company said on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The company's revenue in the first half of the year was HUF 360.98 billion, up 21.6% year-on-year, according to a consolidated flash report prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Based on analyst consensus, analysts at the financial website portfolio.hu were expecting revenue of HUF 186.0 billion and net profit after tax of HUF 61.8 billion for the quarter.

CEO Gábor Orbán highlighted in the report that “sales revenues grew dynamically in the first half of 2022 across all of our markets with the exception of Ukraine. Outsized gains from exchange rate movements combined with price increases lifted revenues in both HUF and EUR terms, while the specialty portfolio continued to provide strong underlying momentum.”

He added that the solid performance of Vraylar continued and is now counted among the top 100 best-selling drugs globally. The Russian business remains steady and recent RUB strength helped both the topline and margins. “We continue investing into our key Women’s Health brands and moving the biosimilar pipeline forward. Our original CNS R&D agenda was given a strong push after we joined forces with Abbvie in March, which resulted in a substantial down payment in the second quarter. We remain dedicated both to our 2022 financial goals and the pipeline progress objectives we had set out for ourselves despite the challenges in the macro environment.”