S.Korea's Celltrion hits nearly 1-year low on lacklustre Q3 earnings

Celltrion Pharm

12/11/2018 01:07

** Shares of South Korea's largest biopharma firm Celltrion
Inc  068270.KS  tumble as much as 8.1 pct, hitting their lowest
intraday pct loss since Dec 27, 2017
    ** Celltrion on Friday said its July-August quarter
operating profit came in at 73.6 bln won ($65.17 mln), down 44.2
pct from a year earlier
    ** Reduced production cost per unit for Celltrion's Truxima,
an anti-cancer biosimilar, and operation break of its first
plant due to expansion caused the company's slump, says Bae
Ki-dal, analyst, Shinhan Investment Corp
    ** Co's fourth-quarter sales are expected to rise 13.4 pct
as the operation of the first plant will be normalised in 2019,
however, its operating profit are likely to drop 3.5 pct as the
pressure of production cost escalates, adds Seo Keun-hee,
analyst, Samsung Securities
    ** Celltrion HealthCare Co Ltd  091990.KQ , the marketing
unit of biosimilar developer Celltrion, fall as much as 7.8 pct,
their lowest since Nov 13, 2017
    ** Shares in Celltrion Pharm Inc  068760.KQ  were trading
down as much as 7.1 pct, set to extend losses into a fifth
session
    ** The sub-index for medical supplies  .KS32  falls up to
5.7 pct
    ** Broader market  .KS11  down 0.4 pct, as of 0059 GMT

    ($1 = 1,129.4000 won)

 ((joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))