Johannesburg - South Africa's No 2 drug maker, Adcock Ingram
[JSE:AIP], reported a worse-than-expected 9% fall in full-year earnings, hit by the loss of high-margin drugs and unfavourable currency swings.
Adcock said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 422 cents in the year to end-September, from 465c a year earlier.
The results fell short of the 430c forecast by StarMine's SmartEstimate, which gives more weight to forecasts from top rated analysts.
Headline EPS, the main profit gauge in South Africa, excludes certain one-time items.
The company said sales were largely flat at R4.6bn, but it raised its final dividend by 8% to 115c per share.
Adcock has been struggling in recent months after losing three drugs that contributed as much as R200m in sales due to safety reasons while the weaker rand and lower consumer demand added to the headwinds.
Shares in Adcock are down nearly 12% so far this year, far behind its closest rival Aspen Pharmacare
[JSE:APN], which has surged more than 60%.
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