By Chinwendu Obienyi
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc regained its strong growth momentum in the second quarter of current business year as significant growth in sales and improved cost efficiency reversed the loss in the previous quarter with a net profit of N207.1 million.
Key highlights of the interim report and accounts of Neimeth for the second quarter ended March 31, 2021, released at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, showed that sales rose by 58.8 per cent within the three-month period while gross profit and operating profit grew by 76.6 per cent and 652.77 per cent respectively.
The company’s turnover jumped to N887.01 million by March 2021 compared with N558.69 million recorded by March 2020. Gross profit rose from N250.56 million in 2020 to N442.38 million in 2021. Operating profit leapt from N28.9 million in March 2020 to N217.55 million in March 2021. As against net loss of N26.06 million by March 2020, the company ended March 2021 with a net profit of N207.1 million. With these, earnings per share for the three-month period ended March 31, 2021 stood at 10.9 kobo as against loss of 1.37 per share recorded by March 2020.
Speaking on the results, the Managing Director, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, Matthew Azoji, said the second quarter results underlined management’s combined strategy of growing market share while simultaneously creating value for shareholders.
He said Neimeth’s stable growth trajectory affirms the success of its business model noting that the company remains committed to its vision of becoming a manufacturing hub for medicines and centre of excellence for pharmaceutical development in Africa.
He pointed out that the company’s growth plan, which included investment of N5 billion in capacity expansion, would lead to greater value creation for all stakeholders.
Shareholders recently approved plan to inject fresh capital of N5 billion to fund construction of a World Health Organisation (WHO) current standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (WHO cGMP) pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Amawbia, near Awka in Anambra State.