HONG KONG, Nov. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Financial Review (For the 9 months ended 30 September)
Unaudited Consolidated Figures
2008 2007 Change
(HK$'000) (HK$'000) (%)
Turnover 89,760 51,486 +74%
Gross Profit 63,408 35,647 +78%
Profit Attributable to 20,702 7,499 +176%
shareholders
Earnings per Share
(Basic) HK4.99 cents HK2.15 cents +132%
Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited ("Lee's Pharmaceutical" or the "Group", HKEx: 8221), an integrated research-driven and market-oriented pharmaceutical group in China, today announced its third quarter results for the 9 months ended 30 September 2008 (the "period under review").
Lee's Pharmaceutical had kept up the rapid pace of growth in the third quarter with substantial increase in both revenue and profit. Revenue for the 9 months ended 30 September 2008 recorded HK$89.8 million, representing a 74% growth compared with the same period in 2007. The Group's profit attributable to shareholders surged to HK$8.3 million during the third quarter, as well as increased 176% to HK$ 20.7 million between January to September in 2008. The increase in revenue in the third quarter was mainly attributable to strong sales growth of the newly launched in-house product Slounase(R). The Group's major product -- Yallaferon(R) was a contributor to generate 60% more revenue growth over the same period last year. As a new income source, the sales of the newly launched license-in product Iron Proteinsuccinylate also experienced stable growth during the period under review, in line with the management's expectation.
The substantial growth in profitability of the Group could be attributed mainly to the increase in revenue and improvement in gross margin. For the 9 months ended 30 September 2008, the gross margin for the period under review stood at 70.6%, up by 1.4 percentage points over the same period last year, despite an unfavorable exchange rate for the licensed products. The improvement in gross margin was mainly driven by the productivity enhancement and manufacturing efficiency for in-house developed products. Benefitting from increase in economy of scale in sales, the Group's selling and distribution expenses to turnover ratio reduced to 28.19% for the third quarter of 2008 from 28.84% for the second quarter.
During the period under review, the Group achieved significant results in research and development division. The Group's eye gel workshop was GMP certified by China's SFDA which led to the launch of our first ophthalmology product Eyprotor(R) in September 2008. This is the third successful product launched by the Group within the past 3 years, a further affirmation of the Group's development capability. Significant progress was also made during the quarter in the areas of clinical study. Both reports for Bemiparin study and Horus(R)S stent study had been completed. PLC and ALC clinical studies have started patient enrollment and progressed well. Clinical study for Veloderm(R), which is applied in skin graft, has been initiated to make the total of the Group's ongoing clinical studies equal to four. Meanwhile, it had three other clinical studies entered into planning and preparation phase during the third quarter.
Looking ahead, Dr, Benjamin Li, CEO of the Group said," The renovation of the Group's Hefei manufacturing facility has been completed. The increase in automation and improvement in overall production environment will not only enhance the Group's production capacity, but also strengthen the Group's quality assurance capability, allowing the Group to continue its mission in fighting disease and improving health and quality of life.
The Group remains confident on its growth prospect for the rest of the year. It is expected that all 5 existing products continue to register phenomenal growth and the newly launched product Eyprotor(R) will further expand the Groups revenue base.
Information about Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited
Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, a biopharmaceutical company, was successfully listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited in 2002, with over 13 years operation in China's pharmaceutical industry. It is fully integrated with solid infrastructures in drug development, clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and sales and marketing in China with global perspective and it currently markets five products in China. The Group focuses on many different areas such as cardiovascular diseases, dermatology, oncology, gynecology and others with more than 15 products under different development stages stemming from both internal R&D as well as from the recent acquisition of licensing and distribution rights from various US and European companies.
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Ms. Liz Yip
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