Hutchison China Meditech 2017 Loss Widens Amid Rising Research Costs

12th Mar 2018 08:53

LONDON (Alliance News) - China-focused drug developer and distributor Hutchison China Meditech PLC said Monday annual losses widened due to increased research and development costs.

In 2017, the company's pretax loss widened to USD53.5 million from USD47.4 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising to USD241.2 million from USD216.1 million the year before.

Profit performance was hurt by an increase in research and development expenses. This grew to USD75.5 million from USD66.9 million the year prior.

The company did not declare dividend and does not intend to do so for the "foreseeable future."

"2017 was another year of important progress for Chi-Med," Hutchison China Meditech Chairman Simon To said.

"Both our Commercial Platform and our Innovation Platform delivered very strong performance; we met our financial guidance, substantially strengthened our cash position and continued Chi-Med's multi-year record of generating considerable shareholder value. We believe that this record will continue in 2018 and beyond."

"We are building a company with deep capabilities, aiming to take advantage of emerging opportunities in China and beyond", To added. "To this end, in 2017, we appointed five new members to the ten-person Chi-Med board - all industry veterans well positioned to help the company develop. We also successfully completed a USD301.3 million follow-on offering on Nasdaq sufficient, we believe, to take us to approvals on multiple drugs. Consequently, we view Chi-Med's future with confidence."

At the end of 2017, Hutchison China Meditech held USD479.6 million in cash. This was up from USD173.7 million the year prior.

Shares in Hutchison China Meditech were trading 3.3% higher at 5,260.00 pence on Monday.

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