CRO

AMRI swings to red despite another sales jump

AMRI ($AMRI) watched a spike in costs erode its solid second-quarter sales, but the the contract drugmaker still believes it can churn out an annual profit and boost its revenue.

The CDMO took a $2.2 million loss on the quarter, as a 17.1% jump in costs of revenue and roughly 350% increase in restructuring charges blunted a 19% leap in revenue. AMRI's sales came in at $59.3 million, above the $50 million posted in the same period last year, led once again by its large-scale manufacturing business, which grew 22% to $31.3 million.

The company's development and small-scale manufacturing unit grew 7% to $8.7 million, while its discovery arm jumped 26% to $10.8 million. AMRI's royalty revenue increased 13% to $8.5 million, thanks largely to its share of Sanofi's ($SNY) Allegra.

Despite the net loss, a third consecutive quarter of revenue gains is nothing to fret over, CEO Thomas D'Ambra said, and AMRI has lifted the bottom end of its 2013 expectations, eyeing between $209 million and $213 million for the full year, up to 12% growth.

In the first 6 months of 2013, AMRI has posted a $4.3 million profit, besting the $3.6 million loss it took in H1 2012, and D'Ambra said his company is on track for further improvements over the rest of the year.

After years of negotiations and reinspections, AMRI is close to getting clear of a 2010 FDA warning letter related to its Burlington, MA, plant, the company said, expecting the one-time money pit to soon start contributing to revenue. Separately, the company's Aurangabad, India, facility recently won local approval to export generic APIs to Europe, opening up a new revenue stream for AMRI.

- read AMRI's full results