Kuala Lumpur, 12 November 2020 – Duopharma Biotech Berhad (“Duopharma Biotech” or “the Company”) has posted a solid set of financial results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2020 with profit before tax holding steady at RM18.57 million (2019: RM19.77 million) against revenue of RM133.77 million (2019: RM142.86 million) despite impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
After accounting for taxation, net profit for the quarter was recorded at RM14.13 million (2019: RM14.86 million).
For the first three quarters of 2020, Duopharma Biotech had posted profit before tax of RM 55.69 million (2019: RM 56.87 million) on the back of RM435.82 million in revenue (2019: RM438.71 million).
Commenting on the Duopharma Biotech Group (“the Group”)’s consistent performance, Duopharma Biotech’s Group Managing Director Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar noted: “Even with the ongoing scenario comprising global and domestic upheavals largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, these solid financial results attest to higher demand for the Group’s pharmaceutical products especially from the consumer healthcare sector, which helped to offset a marginally lower revenue compared to the corresponding period last year attributed to lower demand from the private ethical sector.
“While 2020 has undoubtedly been more challenging than previous years, we remain cautiously optimistic of our FY2020 performance,” added Leonard Ariff, reaffirming various contributing factors.
These factors include Budget 2020 having seen an increase of 6.6 percent in allocation for the healthcare sector to RM30.6 billion, the highest ever allocation in Malaysian history.
Arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, additional allocation has also been provided to the Ministry of Health as part of measures to combat the outbreak.
“This additional allocation augurs well for the Group as approximately 50% of our sales are made to the public health sector,” said Leonard Ariff.
Welcoming the recently-tabled Budget 2021, which features numerous health-related proposals such as a RM1 billion allocation to continue the fight against the pandemic, he further commented: “The government’s Budget 2021 incentives will encourage Malaysia’s recovery from what has been a tumultuous year: the inclusion of public health initiatives, such as the provisioning for the purchase of a COVID-19 vaccine as well as increased allowances for health checks and treatments, will help to safeguard the rakyat’s health into the coming year.”
As it stands, Duopharma Biotech’s new Highly potent Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (“HAPI”) plant is already in operational mode, especially with the manufacture and supply of cancer drug Letrozole for both the public and private sectors.
Additionally, Duopharma Biotech had been informed that the contract period for the supply of pharmaceutical and/or non-pharmaceutical products to hospitals, clinics and others under the Malaysian Government has been extended for twenty-five months, commencing 1 December 2019 until 31 December 2021.
“This extension will help to stabilise a significant portion of the Group’s revenue for the said period. We also hope that the insulin Off-Take will also be extended to enable the Group to mobilise our resources to intensify our foray into specialty products as one of our strategies moving forward to create a pool of niche products,” he said.
