26th Feb 2015 09:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hutchison China MediTech Ltd posted Thursday a decline in pretax profit despite seeing revenue double in 2014, as a result of higher clinical trial costs, and said it expects 2015 to be "another very good year" across all three of its divisions.
Hutchison China MediTech posted a pretax profit of USD6.6 million, down from USD10.1 million in 2013, despite seeing revenue double to USD91.8 million from USD46.0 million, as a result of higher cost of sales and operating expenses as it upped clinical trail expenditures.
The company said revenue growth was primarily due to the establishment of its new Hutchison Sinopharm business, which saw sales of USD50.2 million.
The company published clinical data for three of its seven drug candidates during 2014, and currently has 16 clinical studies running. It expects many of these studies to publish data during 2015. In particular, it expects positive results from its third-line colorectal cancer Phase II study using fruquintinib in early 2015, which will trigger success payments from Eli Lilly and Co.
Hutchison China MediTech said it has opted not to propose a dividend for the year, as it believes it can create greater shareholder value by investing in growth opportunities.
The company said that sales and profit in its China healthcare and Consumer Products divisions are currently well ahead of 2014 levels, and it expects this to continue throughout 2015.
"Chi-Med has had a great year in 2014 and the momentum is continuing in 2015. The route to our objective of becoming a large-scale China pharmaceutical company is now clearly laid out before us," said Chief Executive Officer Christian Hogg in a statement.
Shares in Hutchison China MediTech are trading up 3.2% at 1,226.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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