T&R Biofab, a KOSDAQ-listed company, said that after improving its financial structure, it expects earnings to improve in the first half.
Executive Director Jeong Seung-gyo of T&R Biofab took part in Kiwoom Securities Corp Day on the 31st and said, "We expect our main product, a cranial implant, to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the first half of this year," adding, "We could turn to a profit in the first half."
T&R Biofab produces regenerative medicine products such as cranial implants and is putting particular effort into entering overseas markets. Some products are awaiting U.S. FDA approval.
P&R Biofab, which had long suffered from weak earnings and debt burdens, improved its financial structure last year and laid the groundwork for better results.
Last year, it raised 22.6 billion won through a shareholder-allotted paid-in capital increase, and used 16.7 billion won of that to repay debt. It also acquired Blisspack, a cosmetics original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original design manufacturing (ODM) company. Blisspack's operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.1 billion won, growing more than 20% in just one quarter.
As the debt burden eased and the results of the acquired company were reflected, the long-running downturn in the stock price is also ending. T&R Biofab's share price rose 87.9% compared with early Nov. last year.
The company expects that if this year's earnings improvement becomes clear, the stock price could rise further. In particular, T&R Biofab says its key products are awaiting approval in overseas markets.
Executive Director Jeong said, "The cranial implant product CFI has signed a supply contract with a Chinese medical device company and is going through the approval process in China," adding, "It is a product with the potential to enter the U.S. and Chinese markets at the same time."
T&R Biofab has also developed a composite hemostat with endotoxin (toxin) levels below global standards. The domestic composite hemostat market reaches 300 billion won. However, because domestic products have not lowered endotoxin levels, foreign products account for more than 80% of the domestic market.
Executive Director Jeong explained, "A hemostat with reduced endotoxin can expand not only domestically but also overseas," adding, "The global market size is about 7 trillion won, which is by no means small."
Analysts in the securities industry also say T&R Biofab has "completed preparations for a rebound." Oh Hyun-jin, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said, "After the paid-in capital increase, the financial structure stabilized, and results improved after the Blisspack acquisition," adding, "It has multiple momentum drivers that could lift corporate value."