Indies Pharma Jamaica Limited reported on Thursday last, an unaudited after-tax profit of $158.8 million for the nine-month period ended on July 31, 2020. This represents a 40 per cent increase compared to the previous corresponding period.

The pharmaceutical company’s revenues for the period under review decreased by 1.7 per cent to $565.83 million. This outcome resulted from the delay in shipments due to COVID-19 which led to items being out of stock, according to executive director Vishnu Muppuri in the report to shareholders.

Although revenues decreased for the period under review, the company’s cost of sales also decreased by 11 per cent to $168.45 million from the $188.80 million recorded in the previous corresponding period.

Administrative and other expenses decreased by $29.693 million to $246.04 million compared to the similar period in the prior year. This was mainly due to the decline in rent, vehicle expenses, IT, security, and lack of one-off expenses such as interest penalty.

Liabilities increased by $498.280 million, predominantly due to loan for the purchase of land which will be used for the construction of Indies Pharma Ja Ltd Corporate Office and also, the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards 16 ‘leases’ which requires the lessee to record a liability for the remaining contractual life of the lease payments. There was also a slight decrease in trade payables.

However, the executive director assured that the company’s liquidity position remains healthy with a current ratio of 1.27:1, meaning that the company has $1.27 of current assets for every $1 of current liabilities.

Muppuri further indicated that the company paid dividends of $186.555 million on July 30, 2020.

Earnings per share ended at $0.12, up from the $0.09 recorded in the previous corresponding period.