CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. said profit attributable to shareholders surged 24.8% year over year to 1.88 billion yuan for the six months ended June 30.
Basic earnings per share climbed to 30.13 yuan during the six month period, up from 24.10 yuan from the same period last year.
Revenue for the six months increased 27.6% to 11.18 billion yuan, driven by strong growth of innovative drugs.
Innovative drug sales surged 55.4% year over year to 6.15 billion yuan.
The company's generic drug sales also "regained momentum," according to a Jefferies note sent Aug. 19 to clients. "This strong growth can help ease some concerns on the outlook of this segment," Hong Kong-based analyst Cyrus Ng said in the report, adding that weakness in the first quarter was due to restructuring of the sales team.
Ng has a "buy" rating on the stock.
CSPC Pharmaceutical's generic drug sales jumped 11.7% in the second quarter from a year ago, compared to 2.4% in the first quarter, he said.
CSPC Pharmaceutical is keen to use a direct sales model instead of relying on third-party sales of generic drugs, Ng said in the client note.
Research and development expenses during the period also increased to 942.00 million yuan, compared to 558.96 million yuan last year, driven by ongoing and newly initiated clinical trials.
Hong Kong-listed CSPC Pharmaceutical has 26 drugs pending for regulatory approval in China.
CSPC Pharmaceutical shares were up 4.5% at HK$13 apiece on the Hong Kong stock exchange at 4 p.m.
As of Aug. 16, US$1 was equivalent to about 7.04 Chinese yuan.
