By Joan Faus
BARCELONA (Reuters) – Spanish pharmaceutical firm Almirall forecast on Monday a drop in core earnings this year after a 15.8% decline in 2022 due to increased investment in research and development, as well as lower sales in the United States.
The company also said interim chief executive and chair of the board Carlos Gallardo, the grandson of the company’s founder, would stay on as CEO on a permanent basis.
It reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 198.3 million euros ($212.2 million) for 2022, down from 235.6 million euros in 2021. That was within its target range of 190-210 million euros for 2022.
The Barcelona-based company, specialised in dermatology, expects EBITDA to drop this year to 165-180 million euros, it said in a statement, without elaborating on the reasons.
It booked a net profit of 4.3 million euros in 2022 after a net loss of 40.9 million euros in 2021, which it said was mainly due to the write-down of a drug.
Total revenues reached 878.5 million euros, 5% higher than in 2021. Its dermatology sales grew 11.1% led by Europe, where they grew by 18.4%, but fell 19.3% in the United States, where the company has faced increased competition from generic drugs.
Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a net profit of 28.30 million euros and revenues of 859 million euros in 2022.
Gallardo became interim CEO in November after Almirall unexpectedly announced its then-CEO Gianfranco Nazzi, who joined in May 2021, had stepped down.
“Almirall’s Board of Directors values very positively the evolution, performance and momentum of the company towards its key priorities in recent months,” it said in a statement.
Gallardo became chairman in May 2022, succeeding his father Jorge.
($1 = 0.9357 euros)
(Reporting by Joan Faus; Editing by Inti Landauro and Mark Potter)
