Duopharma sees satisfactory results this year

PETALING JAYA: Duopharma Biotech Bhd aims to deliver a satisfactory performance in 2024, underpinned by the positive advancements and anticipated growth in the economy and industry.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the pharmaceutical company said it had encountered a myriad of challenges in 2023, which exerted pressure on its manufacturing margins, thus influencing the group’s overall profitability in 2023.

Duopharma’s net profit for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2023, dropped to RM8.50mil from RM17.16mil in the previous corresponding quarter, while revenue rose to RM167.50mil from RM151.96mil.

Basic earnings per share stood at 0.88 sen versus 1.80 sen previously.

For the quarter under review, Duopharma said it had seen a slight uptick in sales to the private prescription pharmaceutical market, private ethical specialty sector and the export segment from the preceding quarter.

“However, despite the positive trend, the group reported a marginal lower revenue as compared to the preceding quarter, primarily driven by the expected lower demand from the public health sector in the final quarter of the calendar year.”

It said lower revenue during the quarter, combined with the prolonged impact of increased operational costs resulting from the upward adjustment in electricity tariff, incremental costs associated with commencement of production in the new K3 facility and the unfavourable trends in exchange rates, led to lower group pre-tax profit.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023, Duopharma’s net profit dipped to RM52.65mil from RM70.11mil a year earlier, while revenue was higher at RM704.73mil from RM696.72mil in the previous corresponding period.

Duopharma said it witnessed notably sales growth in the prescription pharmaceutical market, ethical specialty sector and the export segment as compared to the previous year.

“However, this positive trend was tempered by a significant downturn in demand from the consumer healthcare sector, which saw a contraction in the sectoral sales by about 25% year-on-year.

“Consequently, the group’s overall revenue reported only a marginal increase in comparison to the preceding year,” it said.