Hikma paints positive picture as investors gather

(ShareCast News) - Multinational pharmaceutical group Hikma Pharmaceuticals was holding its annual general meeting in London on Thursday, where it was set to confirm a solid start to the year and reiterate its overall guidance for 2016.The FTSE 250 firm continued to expect full-year group revenue in the range of $2bn to $2.1bn, including the contribution of ten months revenue from the acquired Roxane, with continuing momentum into 2017.In its injectables division, it was making good progress transferring the products acquired from Bedford Laboratories to its manufacturing facilities in New Jersey, Germany and Portugal and has received three approvals for former Bedford products so far this year, taking the total to sixHikma said it was on track to deliver global injectables revenue growth in the mid-to-high single digits in 2016, with core operating margin to return to what it called a "more normalised" level of 36%.The company's branded business was also performing well, with growth being driven by higher sales in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.On a constant currency basis it expected full-year revenue to be in line with historical trends, however since March negative movements in exchange rates have persisted - particularly in the Algerian dinar and Egyptian and Sudanese pounds - which would impact revenue if they continue.Hikma's third division - the generics business - was integrating Roxane swiftly, though revenue in its legacy generics was still expected to decline.The board expected 2016 revenue from the combined generics division to be in the range of $640m-$670m, including the contribution from Roxane."Hikma has made a good start to the year. We have performed well in each of our businesses and we are pleased to be reiterating our 2016 guidance for the group overall and for each of our business segments," said chairman and chief executive Said Darwazah."Our focus this year is on integrating Roxane and delivering high value, differentiated product launches. Moving forward, we expect the benefits from the investments that we have made in recent years - in R&D, M&A, co-development partnerships and licensing agreements - to accelerate."We have an exciting pipeline across our business segments that will drive accelerated and sustainable future growth," Darwazah added.