Ognyan Donev, CEO Sopharma

Leading generic pharmaceuticals producer Sopharma proposed a BGN 0.11 dividend per share (DPS), the Company disclosed in a filing to the Trade Registry. This comes very short of ELANA Trading Research team BGN 0.12 DPS estimate. According to the Company’s audited financial statement, it booked BGN 205.3m in revenues and BGN 42.2m in net income.

Dividend to be approved on 11 May

Sopharma will hold a general shareholders’ meeting on 11th May 2018 where its shareholders will vote on the adoption of the proposed dividend. The income subject to distribution is BGN 43m, consisting of the entire 2017 net profit amounting to BGN 42.2m and BGN 773k of retained earnings. Following the allocation of 10% from the distributable net income to the Company’s reserves, the net income to be distributed in the form of dividend will be BGN 38.7m, translating into BGN 0.11 DPS.

Shareholders would also approve the annual bonus for Sopharma’s CEO and top management, equal to 1% and 2% of FY2017 net profit, respectively.

2017 – record year for Sopharma

Sopharma booked record performance in 2017 with the top line hitting BGN 1bn and best EBITDA ever on strong organic and M&A driven growth. Individual bottom line margins healthy above historical and peer averages at 20%+ as cost and group optimization kicked in. The Group has almost completed its optimization program by merging key production subsidiaries.

Market entrances

In 2017, distribution arm Sopharma Trading entered the USD 1.1bn Serbian market by acquiring 70% in local peer Lekovit. In the midterm, the latter targets 20%+ market share via a mirror image of Sopharma Trading’s vertical integrated wholesale and retail strategy. Serbia to be a key pocket of growth for Sopharma coupled with Bulgarian retail expansion with the acquisition of local pharmacy chain and the development of branded Sopharmacy network.

After transferring Tabex marketing rights in the US to American clinical stage pharma company Achieve Life Sciences (ACHV US), Sopharma retained a longterm manufacturing agreement to supply cytisine – the key ingredient. Achieve is expected to start Phase III clinical trial with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in mid-2018 which if successful would lead to filing a New Drug Application to market the drug in the US. Sopharma is entitled to royalties on sales in the US.

What Sopharma CEO said to shareholders in February 2018

Find out more about Sopharma in the updated corporate profile by ELANA Trading Research Team – check in ELANA Online