Biosensors posts 33% fall in Q3 net profit to US$7.44m

MEDICAL devices company Biosensors International on Thursday posted a 33 per cent fall in net profit to US$7.44 million for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2015.

This translates into earnings per share of 0.44 US cent, down from the 0.65 US cent in Q3 FY2014.

Total revenue slid 6 per cent to US$77.5 million for the quarter, mainly due to unfavourable foreign exchange impact.

While product revenue remained relatively unchanged at US$71.7 million, licensing and royalties revenue from Terumo plunged 46 per cent to US$5.8 million from a year ago.

Total cost of sales went up in the third quarter by 16 per cent to US$21.8 million.

Profit from operations inched up 4 per cent to US$15.7 million for Q3.

Jose Calle, Biosensors' CEO, said the weaker results for Q3 were due to lower licensing revenue and unfavourable foreign exchange impact.

Still, he said the company has seen improvement in its operations following massive cost reduction measures.

This helped its operating income to break the stagnant growth pattern over the last several quarters, said Mr Calle.

On the revenue front, all divisions, particularly the Cardiac Diagnostic segment and the distribution business for Terumo in Japan, contributed to revenue growth.

Sales in China also improved over the second quarter for FY2015, said Mr Calle.