Shares of Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc (LON: HIK) fell 8.56% despite the company announcing upbeat 2020 earnings driven by its role as a supplier of emergency COVID-19 drugs at the height of the pandemic last year.
The company’s revenues rose 6% to hit $2.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021, while its profits jumped 11% to $566 million compared to the $508 million recorded in 2019.
Hikma is a major global producer of dexamethasone, one of the drugs used to treat patients hospitalised with COVID-19. The pharma company said that it leveraged its strong foundation to supply essential medicines to treat COVID-19 while ensuring that its other drugs’ supply did not suffer.
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The company also launched 154 new products within the various markets it operated in and managed to get the US FDA to approve its generic drug Advair Diskus®.
However, investors were more focused on the company’s revenue growth projections for 2021, which were lower than analysts estimates.
Hikma said that it expects revenues form generic drugs to range from $770 million to $810 million at a 20% margin, while analysts expect generics revenues of $851 million at a 22% margin.
Hikma’s CEO, Siggi Olafsson, said: “Thanks to our strong foundation, flexible and high-quality manufacturing capabilities, robust supply chain and the unwavering dedication of our people to our purpose, Hikma was able to play a critical role in the pandemic. We responded rapidly to the changing needs of healthcare providers, supplying essential medicines used to treat COVID-19 patients while continuing to provide the critical medicines our patients need every day.”
Adding:
“Our response to the pandemic demonstrates the resilience of our business, which enabled us to deliver strong financial performance and continued progress against our longer-term strategic objectives. We achieved good revenue growth in all our businesses and an improvement in core profitability.”
Hikma share price.
Hikma shares plunged 8.56% to trade at 2210p after falling from its closing price on Wednesday of 2417p.