Hikma Pharmaceuticals, a fast growing multinational pharmaceutical group, has posted a revenue of $895 million for the first half of the year, marking a one per cent increase.

The increase reflects the consolidation of an additional two months of West-Ward Columbus and continued Injectables growth, partially offset by lower branded revenue, a company statement said.

Hikma has also launched 75 products, expanding and enhancing its global product portfolio.

Hikma’s global Injectables revenue amounted to $362 million, up 1 per cent from H1 2016 and up 3 per cent in constant currency. Meanwhile, Generics revenue reached $305 million compared with the $257 million gained in H1 2016 as a result of the consolidation of an additional two months of the West-Ward Columbus business.

Branded revenue, however, came in at $223 million, dropping 16 per cent and going down 6 per cent in constant currency, reflecting seasonality and challenging operating conditions in certain markets. In light of most recent figures, Hikma expects Group revenue for 2017 to be around $2.0 billion in constant currency.

Besides investing 7 per cent of Group revenue in Research and Development (R&D) and product-related investment, as well as enhancing the efficiency of the R&D programmes, Hikma expanded its licensing and distribution agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company to add attractive branded products to its Mena portfolio in H1 2017.

Said Darwazah, chairman and chief executive officer of Hikma, said: “The Group has delivered a resilient performance in the first half of 2017 in an increasingly challenging environment. In the US, where competition is increasing and pricing pressure is intensifying, sales in our Injectables business were resilient and we have maintained strong profitability.”

“The tougher market conditions did, however, continue to limit growth in our Generics business.  We remain focused on executing our strategy and we have strengthened the management team and further restructured the cost base to provide a robust and efficient platform to support future growth and pipeline execution.  Whilst Branded revenue declined in the first half, primarily as a result of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound at the end of 2016 and shipment delays during Ramadan and Eid, we remain confident that we will deliver a much stronger performance in the second half of the year.

“Across the Group, we are working hard to deliver value from our marketed products, invest in our pipeline and enhance the efficiency of our operations to ensure we are well positioned for future growth,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service