London, United Kingdom (AETOSWire) – Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (‘Hikma’ or ‘Group’), the multinational pharmaceutical company, today reports its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021.
Siggi Olafsson, Chief Executive Officer of Hikma, said:
“Once again, we have benefited from the resilience of our portfolio and our flexible manufacturing footprint. Our strong performance included solid year-over-year increases in revenue and operating profit, underscoring our ability to generate positive results in challenging market conditions. We are continuing to benefit from investments we have made to build our pipeline of new medicines and our progress in the first half underpins our improved outlook for the full year. Looking ahead, our clear strategy, strong pipeline and agility give us the confidence to drive continued growth and deliver increased value to all our stakeholders.”
During the first half of 2021, core group revenue grew 7% to $1,216 million compared to (H1 2020: $1,132 million) driven by a strong performance in Generics and Branded and the resilience of our Injectables business. We made excellent progress ensuring our customers have the products they need, delivering on our purpose of putting better health within reach, every day. We achieved this through our strategy of delivering more from our foundation, building a portfolio that anticipates future health needs, and inspiring and enabling our people. The breadth of Hikma’s portfolio and our flexible manufacturing facilities have enabled us to respond quickly to evolving demand since the beginning of the pandemic.
We’ve seen a continued revenue growth in all three businesses. Generics delivered strong revenue growth and significant margin improvement reflecting good demand for new and recently launched products, a more favourable product mix and lower operating expenses. Global Injectables revenue grew modestly, following the exceptionally strong performance in H1 2020, reflecting the resilience of our product portfolio. Injectables operating profit declined in line with expectations, primarily due to a shift in product mix. Branded achieved double digit revenue growth and improved margins, driven by a strong performance across Tier 1 markets.
In H1 2021, global Injectables core revenue increased by 1% to $492 million compared to (2020: $485 million). Our Injectables portfolio in the US of 119 products and an incremental contribution from new launches has enabled us to partially offset lower demand for products used in the treatment of COVID-19 when compared with the first half of 2020. We have also benefited from our presence in Europe and MENA, where we have seen good demand for our growing portfolio and manufacturing capabilities. Our Injectables business launched a total of 44 products globally, including 9 in the US, building on our track record of consistently delivering launches to deliver incremental growth. We continue to expect injectables revenue growth in the mid-single digits.
We have seen an 8% increase in core Generics revenue of $400 million H1 2021 compared to (H1 2020: $369 million). We have been adding to, and diversifying our Generics portfolio, and these newer products have been a key contributor to our profitable growth. We are working closely with our customers and leveraging our improved service levels to help drive demand and offset the effects of a more competitive environment on certain products in our base portfolio. The Generics business launched 4 products in the first half. This included the launch of generic Advair Diskus® in April and are pleased with how our sales are progressing. We also announced the approval [and launch] of our KLOXXADDOTM (naloxone hydrochloride) nasal spray 8mg, an important new medicine for the treatment of opioid overdose. We now expect generics revenue to be in the range of [$810 million to $830] million for the full year.
The Branded business achieved a very strong performance in the first half, with revenue up 16%, 17% in constant currency, to $319 million in H1 2021, compared to (H1 2020: $275 million). We have seen strong performance in each of our Tier 1 markets, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Our presence across the rest of our 18 MENA markets and our broad portfolio made up of both own-brand generics and in-licenced innovative products is further providing a foundation to our growth.
In Algeria, we are benefitting from our strengthened commercial capabilities and broad product portfolio as well as our established local presence which enables us to take market opportunities when they arise. We also launched our first locally manufactured oral oncology product in Algeria. In Saudi Arabia, we saw good demand across a range of products and benefitted from the flexibility of our commercial and manufacturing operations. In Egypt, we have continued to see demand for some COVID-19 related products, as well as a good performance from the broader portfolio. We have also seen a strong performance in Sudan where volumes are up significantly, compared to the first half of 2020, when this market faced severe disruptions.
In our Branded business we launched 39 products across our markets and are seeing a return to normal conditions following disruptions to our product launches in 2020 due to the pandemic. Our sales force has returned to in person operations, whilst maintaining some virtual interaction. We continue to expect branded revenue to grow in the mid-single digits in constant currency.
We also continue to build our extensive network of global partners to increase patients’ access to differentiated medicines. We expanded our licencing agreement with Melinta in the MENA region, adding two novel anti-infective injectable products. We also announced the licencing of Combogesic® IV in the US from AFT Pharmaceuticals, expanding our pipeline of non-opioid pain management treatments. Through these efforts, we are ensuring that we build a portfolio of products that meets the evolving needs of healthcare professionals and patients.
