Fidson Healthcare declares N477m profit

Fidson Healthcare Plc has released its results for the half year ended June 30, 2015, declaring  a profit before tax of N447M.

The figure was 4.6 per cent higher than the N456m profit before tax the company reported in the corresponding period of 2014.

The company also reported a 4.7 per cent increase in earnings per share with its EPS rising to 22 kobo in the reviewing period from 21 kobo.

Fidson Healthcare, which said it witnessed a 128 per cent quarter-on-quarter revenue growth as sales returned to normal levels post-elections, however, noted that its half-year 2015 revenue was down by 12 per cent to N4.034bn when compared to the N4.573bn it declared in the same period of last year.

The company explained in a statement that despite the year-on-year slowdown in sales, which was largely due to the prolonged general elections and transition period, its margins improved over the first six months.

The improvement, it said, was driven by the company’s cost optimisation drive. For instance, the company reported that its operating expenses dropped by 67 per cent from N150m in the first half of 2014 to N49m in H1 2015, with selling and distribution expenses also decreasing from N605m to N325m, a decline of 46 per cent.

The statement added that the company, which recently emerged as the recipient of Frost & Sullivan 2014 Growth Excellence Leadership Award in the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Industry, “continues to gear up for the commissioning of her World Health Organisation Good Manufacturing Practice compliant plant, where it would manufacture IV fluids in addition to existing product offerings.”

The new plant, according to the company, is scheduled to become operational before the end of 2015 and is expected to broaden its product base and increase its capacity.  

“Fidson’s growth opportunities have also recently been enhanced by the announcement of her partnership with Immune Therapeutics Incorporated, a United .States public company to market Lodonal^TM in Nigeria. Lodonal^TM is a patent-protected product that is indicated for the management of patients with immune-compromise,” the statement added.