Egis Q1 net profit doubles on pre-delivery, forex

BUDAPEST, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Hungarian drug maker Egis EGIS.BU said first-quarter net profit doubled to 5.625 billion forints ($24.6 million), partly due to one-off factors and helped by a weakening of the forint.

"Besides good business performance, one-off factors also contributed to the increase. In preparation for a change in drug registration (in Poland) the company brought forward deliveries from the next quarter in a total value of 2.78 billion forints," Egis said on Monday.

Advance deliveries boosted profit by 1.836 billion forints in the three months to end-December, during which period sales rose 16.3 percent to 28.51 billion forints, the company said,

Egis said a strengthening of the dollar and weakening of the forint increased export revenues which rose 28 percent in forint terms, more than offsetting an 8.5 percent drop in domestic sales. Pretax profit doubled to 5.82 billion forints.

In dollar terms, exports rose 12 percent to $106.7 million, of which pre-deliveries accounted for $13.9 million.

The figures were in line with guidance given by the company in late January when Egis said first-quarter figures would be higher than the market was expecting due to pre-deliveries taken on business consideration.

Sales to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the company's biggest export market, rose 21 percent in dollar terms while sales in eastern Europe were up 55 percent.

Sales in Ukraine fell 49 percent, as traders reduced purchases due to a sharp depreciation of the hryvnia, but Russian sales were up 35 percent.

"The impact from the depreciation of the rouble did not yet limit orders from partners," Egis said, adding the depreciation was causing difficulties in payments.