* Normalised headline EPS at 636.2 cents vs 523.3 cents
* Sales up 23 percent at 15.3 billion rand
* Asia-Pacific unit doubles sales
(Adds details, share price)
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Africa’s biggest generic
drugs maker Aspen Pharmacare booked a 22 percent rise
in full-year profit, helped by a robust showing in its
Asia-Pacific unit.
Aspen, 19 percent owned by Britain GlaxoSmithKline,
said in financial results released on Wednesday its normalised
diluted headline earnings per share totalled 636.2 cents in the
year to end-June compared with 523.3 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS, the primary profit gauge in South Africa,
strips out certain one-off items.
The biggest generic drugs maker in the southern hemisphere,
Aspen is one of the companies most likely to benefit as some of
best-selling name-brand drugs worth more than $100 billion lose
patent protection over the next three years.
Sales increased 23 percent to 15.3 billion rand ($1.88
billion) with its Asia-Pacific unit doubling its revenue to 6
billion rand thanks to an acquisition.
Durban-based Aspen completed the acquisition of the generic
business of Australia’s Sigma Pharmaceuticals last
year, boosting its presence in the region.
The company said it is looking to expand further in
fast-growing Latin America, where it has small operations in
Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico.
Shares in Aspen, which are up about 44 percent so far this
year, were down 1.16 percent at 139.36 rand, in line with its
closest domestic rival Adcock Ingram, which was down
1.35 percent at 59 rand.
($1 = 8.1362 South African rand)
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
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