UAE pharma firm Julphar swings into loss after tough going in Egypt, Iraq

Dubai: The UAE pharma company Julphar has taken a hit with its first-half 2023 financials, with net income slipping into the negative, at Dh42.1 million, compared with a Dh5.3 million profit last year. Net sales were Dh859.4 million (higher by 2.5 per cent), with Julphar citing market conditions outside of the UAE as the contributing factor.

The Ras Al Khaimah-headquartered company says geopolitical and economic situations in Iraq, Sudan, and the currency devaluation by Egypt set off the headwinds. These were only partially offset by the gains in the UAE and the wider GCC. Its pharmacy unit, Planet, also contributed with sales of Dh523 million, up 7.1 per cent, in H1-23.

To speed its financial recovery, Julphar intends to:

There is work to be done, with Julphar’s accumulated losses by end June coming to Dh295.4 million. Of course, the losses sustained during the recent second quarter have added to the burden.

In the recent past, Julphar had been trying out ways to address the legacy loss issue. This has seen it try and regain market share for its core products, as well as restructure the product portfolio.

Product pipeline

Julphar expects much from its line-up of new products, with 25 of these having received regulatory approval in different markets. These will be launched shortly.

The other focus is on gaining more by way of market share in its core markets, whether that’s the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf markets.

When these plans fall into place, it would nurse the company’s finances, where the cash flow used in operating activities had declined to -22.4 million in the last period. The cash flow used in investing activities too was in negative territory, by Dh11 million.

Total equity fell to Dh873.3 million from December end’s Dh928.2 million. “Equity decreases (were) mainly driven by net loss for the period of Dh45.7 million and the foreign currency translation reserve impact of –Dh15.5 million”.