* Diluted normalised headline EPS up 22 pct
* Sales up 31 pct
* To buy remaining shares in east African unit
(Adds details, shares)
JOHANNESBURG, March 7 (Reuters) – Aspen Pharmacare
, the southern hemisphere’s biggest generic drugs maker,
booked a 22 percent rise in first-half profit on Wednesday as
strong demand in its Asia-Pacific unit offset higher funding
costs on its debt.
Aspen, 19 percent owned by Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline
, said diluted normalised headline earnings per share
totalled 308.1 cents in the six months to end-December, compared
with 253.3 cents a year earlier.
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 31 percent to 7.5 billion rand, with its
offshore business adding more to sales than its home market for
the first time. Sales at its Asia Pacific unit were three times
more than the same period a year earlier.
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 also said it had reached a agreement with the
minority shareholders of its east Africa-focused unit, Shelys,
to buy their 40 percent holding for $24 million.
Shares in Aspen, which are up more than 11 percent so far
this year, were little changed at 107.49 rand by 1135 GMT,
lagging a 0.7 percent rise in the JSE Top-40 index.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by)
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