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Kalbe Farma revises target after slower sales growth

Major pharmaceutical company PT Kalbe Farma (KLBF) has decided to revise its full-year business target, triggered by the slower growth that it posted in the first half H1) of 2014

Tassia Sipahutar (The Jakarta Post)
Sat, July 26, 2014

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Kalbe Farma revises target after slower sales growth

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ajor pharmaceutical company PT Kalbe Farma (KLBF) has decided to revise its full-year business target, triggered by the slower growth that it posted in the first half H1) of 2014.

In a statement published on Friday, Kalbe said it was now looking at 11 to 13 percent business growth for the whole year, down from the initial target of 14 to 16 percent.

The revision was mainly triggered by slower sales growth that the publicly listed company booked in the January to June period, especially sales generated by non-Kalbe products, according to Kalbe finance director and corporate secretary Vidjongtius.

'€œAt first, we hoped that sales of non-Kalbe products would contribute 37 percent to our total sales this year, just like it did in 2013. But it could only make up 32 percent of total sales after analyzing the first-half result,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

He added that the current economic situation might have played a role in the slower performance of its partners, whose products were sold using Kalbe'€™s distribution and logistics networks.

The rest of the sales, according to Vidjongtius, will be generated from Kalbe'€™s own products, comprising prescribed drugs, consumer health products and nutritional products.

With the revised target, Kalbe now expects to see its revenue stand between Rp 17.76 trillion (US$1.53 billion) and Rp 18.08 trillion by year-end, declining from its initial target of Rp 18.24 trillion to Rp 18.56 trillion.

Its first-half financial report shows that Kalbe'€™s revenue climbed 13 percent to Rp 8.38 trillion. The company suffered a slight slowdown compared to a year before when the revenue growth rate reached 18.8 percent.

The lower growth rate was also recorded in Kalbe'€™s net profit, that surged only by 7.7 percent year-on-year to Rp 992.91 billion in the first half this year, whereas the rate stood at 14.2 percent in the first half of 2013.

Besides higher expenses, Kalbe booked foreign exchange losses during the first six months of this year, which eventually eroded net profit growth.

Vidjongtius said Kalbe had jacked up some of its product prices gradually to cope with soaring expenses. '€œWe will see whether another hike is needed,'€ he added.

Kalbe submitted the report a few minutes before trading at the stock market ended. Its share price fell 1.1 percent to Rp 1,730 apiece on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Friday from the previous day.

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