GC Biopharma said on the 26th that, on a consolidation basis, last year's annual sales were tentatively tallied at 1.9913 trillion won. That is up 18.5% from a year earlier and marks the highest sales since the company's founding. Last year's operating profit was 69.1 billion won, up 115.4% from the previous year.
In particular, fourth-quarter results last year broke a seven-year streak of fourth-quarter losses and returned to the black (turnaround). Analysts said GC Biopharma has entered a full-fledged phase of improving its profit structure.
The company cited expansion of overseas sales of high-margin products as the key driver of this year's performance improvement. The intravenous immunoglobulin "Aliglo" posted more than 150 billion won (about $106 million) in U.S. sales annually, driving earnings growth.
The Hunter syndrome treatment "Hunterase" and the chickenpox vaccine "Varicella-j" achieved their highest sales since launch. Last year, Hunterase sales rose about 20% from the previous year to 74.4 billion won. During the same period, Varicella-j sales more than doubled to 32.1 billion won. The company said, "Both products are expected to continue solid growth based on steady expansion in demand."
By business segment, sales were 560.2 billion won for plasma fractionation products, 300.6 billion won for vaccine products, 479.8 billion won for prescription drugs, and 119.7 billion won for over-the-counter drugs and consumer healthcare.
ABO Plasma, acquired by GC Biopharma in January last year, sharply narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter. The company said it improved operating efficiency through a new plasma collection system introduced in the third quarter last year and is pushing to cut its operating loss this year by about half from a year earlier.
Domestic listed affiliates also showed a generally stable trend. GC Wellbeing recorded sales of 164.7 billion won and operating profit of 17.3 billion won. GC Cell's sales last year fell 5% from a year earlier to 165.5 billion won, while its operating loss shrank 31% to 13.7 billion won.
According to the company, a fair value assessment was reflected in the goodwill asset recognized at the time of the merger of GC Biopharma Labcell and GC Biopharma Cell at the end of 2021, which had a temporary effect on net income. The company said, "This corresponds to a one-off accounting treatment that does not involve a cash outflow," and added, "There are no plans for additional reflection." It continued, "Going forward, we plan to focus on restoring profitability by strengthening competitiveness in our core business."
A GC Biopharma official said, "Along with our solid existing businesses, improved profitability at subsidiaries will enable continued growth this year as well."