Despite reporting a full-year loss of $235.4 million, Sigma Pharmaceuticals shares rose more than 10 percent to 46 cents Monday.
The drug wholesaler, which services about 4,000 pharmacies throughout Australia, said it would pay a special fully franked dividend of 15 cents per share from the proceeds of the $900 million sale of its generic drugs business, Aspen Pharmacare.
Sigma CEO Mark Hooper said, “While the reported net loss was disappointing, it is pleasing to see at the operational level, the Healthcare Business has continued to grow and remain despite the recent challenging times.”
Mark Hooper said, “While the business stabilized, we can concentrate on reinvigorating our core operations, in both wholesale and retail. A culture of responsiveness and innovation will place the company well to meet industry’s on-going change. We have a clear financial model as we seek profitable growth with due regard to key metrics including return on investment.”
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Sigma still has to lift itself out of the setbacks it faces coming from a string of undesirable occurrences that happened last year. Last December, Pfizer, a major supplier, had withdrawn from the wholesale business, resulting in a 15 per cent fall in revenue in its wholesale division.
According to The Australian, “While there are still further challenges to be faced under changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the loss of 10 to 15 per cent in sales volume from Pfizer's decision to distribute drugs directly to pharmacists without going through Sigma, Mr Hooper was confident the company would return to profit when it reports in July.”
Hooper is confident that the business will grow over the next six to 12 months.
