Business
Pre-close Trading Statement
Pre-close Trading Statement.
About this update from Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc\n18 January 2007\n\n\n Pre-close trading statement\n\nLONDON, 18 January 2007 - Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC ('Hikma') (LSE: HIK) (DIFX:\nHIK), the multinational pharmaceuticals group, will enter its close period on 21\nJanuary 2007 ahead of the preliminary announcement of its results for the twelve\nmonths ended 31 December 2006, which will be made on 22 March 2007.\n\nHikma performed very well in 2006 and the Board currently expects a strong set\nof results for the 2006 full-year, with revenue growth of around 20%, gross\nmargin close to 50% and growth in profits attributable to shareholders slightly\nbelow 25%.*\n\nIn 2006 the Branded business continued to perform extremely well, with\nanticipated revenue growth of approximately 40% compared to 2005. This was\nachieved through organic growth in our established markets, such as Saudi\nArabia, Sudan and Jordan, as well as by growth in newer markets like Lebanon and\nthe United Arab Emirates. The consolidation of approximately $12 million in\nsales from JPI, wholly-owned as of September 2006, also contributed to this\nstrong performance. Gross margin in the Branded business will reflect the impact\nof reference pricing in Algeria and increased overheads related to the new\nAlgerian manufacturing plant, opened in early 2006.\n\nIt is expected that our Injectable business will deliver strong growth of more\nthan 35% for the year, with growth coming from all three operating regions. We\nsaw considerable momentum in the MENA region and in Europe, where sales grew as\na result of our continued focus on sales and marketing. Sales in the US were\nhigher than last year and we are still awaiting the approval of an important\nhigh margin product. Taking into consideration our strong product pipeline, we\nincreased investment in sales and marketing across all regions, particularly in\nthe second half of the year, but still expect to deliver operating margin\nexpansion on a year-on-year basis.\n\nAs announced in our trading update in October, the performance of our Generic\nbusiness was impacted in 2006 by continued price erosion and a limited\ncontribution from new product launches. We continue to expect that full year\nGeneric sales will be slightly below those achieved in 2005 and this will be\nreflected in the Generic business's gross margin.\n\n\nOutlook\n\nLo...