Trade Shares or Stocks in Bursa Malaysia|How to start Trading | Trade Stocks in Bursa Malaysia | How to Open Trading Account | How to Open CDS Account | What is Collateralised Trading | Discretionary Financing | Share Margin Financing | CDS Share Transfer | Securities Borrowing and Lending (SBL) | Regulated Short Selling (RSS) | Brokerage | Internet Trading Brokerage Discount | Cash Upfront Brokerage Discount | Clearing Fees | Contract Stamp Duties | Bursa Malaysia | Composite Index | Bursa News | Listed Companies News | Market News | Market Outlook

The Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical services division has revoked the manufacturing licence of Pharmaniaga Manufacturing Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pharmaniaga Bhd, after a routine audit of the Bangi plant.

The company told Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the revocation was effective from March 1.

Pharmaniaga managing director Mohamad Abdullah told StarBiz over the phone that the ministry found a few non-compliance issues that the firm was now working to expedite.

He said the ministry officials would be returning “very soon” for another round of audit but would not say when this would take place.

“For something like this, we’re hoping that the plant will not be closed longer than a week as this will affect our suppliers,” Mohamad said.

In the announcement, Pharmaniaga said manufacturing contributed approximately 10% to the company’s turnover based on financial year ended Dec 31, 2009 (FY09) results.

“As such, the cessation of production is not expected to have a significant financial impact as the other business lines are not affected and the company believes it will be able to address the audit issues within a relatively short time,” it added.

For FY09, the company posted a net profit of RM60.19mil on revenue of RM1.30bil while for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009, the company posted a net profit of RM21.91mil on revenue of RM323.90mil.

Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, the company said its major shareholder UEM Group Bhd was evaluating options with regard to meeting the public spread requirement of Pharmaniaga by March 29.

Related Posts:

• Securities Commission approves Boustead purchase of Pharmaniaga
• CCM posted record revenue

Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd (CCM) (2879) has registered a pre-tax profit of RM120.268 million for its financial year ended December 31, 2008, up from RM105.551 million the previous year.

The country’s largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer set a new record of RM2.165 billion in revenue, an increase of 55 per cent from RM1.397 billion in 2007.

The fertilisers division was the group’s top revenue earner last year, CCM said in a statement yesterday.

The division’s revenue nearly doubled to record a 94.2 per cent increase in revenue to RM1.4 billion from RM723.8 million in the same period in 2007, it said.
Pre-tax profit rose significantly by 138.4 per cent to RM83.5 million from RM35.0 million previously for the division, it added.

The division’s higher performance over the previous year was achieved on the back of rising prices and improved margins in the first three quarters of 2008, which started to soften in the last quarter.

The group’s chemicals division reported an 18.7 per cent growth in revenue to RM606.5 million from RM511.1 million in 2007.

However, the division’s pre-tax profit at RM14.7 million was 3.1 per cent lower than the previous year due to year-end stock impairment charges incurred, reflecting market falls in product prices and underperformance of its water systems business.

The pharmaceuticals division’s revenue improved seven per cent to RM232.7 million from RM217.4 million in the corresponding period the previous year.

However, its pre-tax profit was 33 per cent lower at RM37.2 million from RM56.3 million previously.

CCM attributed the decrease to reduced margins arising from higher raw material prices coupled with lower selling prices of products to the government sector.

The CCM board has recommended a final dividend of 1.8 sen per ordinary shareless tax at 25 per cent and 4.9 sen tax exemption for the financial year ended December 31, 2008. – Bernama

Related Posts:

• Bursa third-quarter net profit down
• Pharmaniaga licence revoked
• CCM expect growth in 2009
• Public Bank to maintain strong dividend
• MMC net earnings fall to RM128m in Q4