Maxigesic boosts Kiwi firm’s cash
New Zealand drug company AFT Pharmaceuticals has made its first net profit as a listed company, as it rolls out its products to more countries.
AFT has announced a $9.9 million interim net profit for the six months to September 30, compared with a loss of $4.2m last year. The company went into profit with its full year operating earnings in May, the first time since listing on the NZX and ASX in 2015. Shares in the company have risen by a third in the past year and jumped 15c after the result report to $3.15.
AFT, which founders Marree and Hartley Atkinson started in their garage 20 years ago, said rising over-the-counter sales in home markets and the increasing rollout of its Maxigesic pain relief medicine overseas were behind the profit increase.
Interim operating revenue jumped 22 per cent to $46.9m, and operating profits – the company’s preferred benchmark – hit $13.7m, from a loss of $100,000 last year. Part but not all of the improvement was related to a $9.8m accounting gain involving a drug called Pascomer.
AFT developed the drug, which treats a condition linked to facial growths, but the development costs were being shared in a 50:50 joint venture in the United States. AFT has now bought out all the rights to Pascomer, and chief executive Hartley Atkinson says it could potentially generate sales of $100m if human trials currently under way prove successful. The trials should be complete in a couple of years.
Including the gain, AFT is forecasting a full year operating profit of $18.8m-$21.8m.
Although its products are registered in 44 countries, AFT’s biggest markets continue to be New Zealand and Australia where its eye care and Maxigesic products are its top sellers.
On Monday it announced it had signed licensing agreements for Maxigesic pain relief in Germany, Pakistan and Vietnam.
The company has also signed a partnership with Taupo¯ company SETEK to move into medicinal cannabis, subject to regulations to support the medical cannabis scheme coming into force.
AFT raised $33.2m in its sharemarket float in 2015, much of the money for research and development. It uses licensing to get its products overseas, relying on other pharmaceutical companies to distribute them.
Atkinson said operating a drug company exporting from the bottom of the world was not as difficult as it sounded because of its long-standing links around the world. He said a new licensing agreement for Maxigesic in Germany overcame the last significant hurdle to selling into the prescription market there. Over the counter sales would have to be licensed separately.