Hikma raises drug sales outlook as profit jumps on pandemic demand

(Reuters) - Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc raised the annual sales outlook for two of its biggest divisions on Friday and reported higher first-half profit, as hospitals and distributors stocked up on critical medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company's largest unit, which supplies needle-based drugs primarily to hospitals, posted double-digit growth in revenue, driven by demand for products to treat patients infected with the coronavirus in the United States and Europe.

Hikma said it expects 2020 revenue from the injectables business to be between $950 million and $980 million, compared with its previous forecast of growth in the low to mid-single digits.

It also raised the revenue outlook for its generics division to a range of $720 million to $760 million, from $700 million to $750 million.

Hikma produces generic treatments including anaesthetics, pain medications, sedatives, neuromuscular blocking agents and anti-infectives. It also supplies the steroidal drug dexamethasone - touted as a possible new treatment for COVID-19 infections.

The drugmaker said it had not seen any hit to its supply chain from the pandemic and that its manufacturing sites had remained open.

Its core operating profit rose 15% year-on-year to $284 million and Hikma raised its interim dividend by 2 cents to 16 cents per share.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Aditya Soni)