Square Pharmaceuticals witnessed the highest-ever quarterly profit in July-September this year, driven by a double-digit growth in sales revenue.
The sales got a boost in the quarter, compared to the previous quarter, mainly because of an escalation in the demand for dengue-related drugs.
The leading drug manufacturer in Bangladesh secured a consolidated profit of more than Tk 6 billion in July-September of FY24, a 9.10 per cent increase from the same quarter a year before.
Accordingly, the earnings per share stood at Tk 6.77, up from Tk 6.20 for the same quarter of the previous year, according to its unaudited financial statement published on Tuesday.
Square Pharma, the flagship company of Square Group, registered a 15 per cent year-on-year sales growth to Tk 18.46 billion in the quarter through September.
Dengue-related medicine sales highly contributed to the overall sales growth, said Md Zahangir Alam, chief financial officer of Square Pharmaceuticals.
"As we are the market leader in the pharmaceuticals sector, people trusted Square Pharma's medicines, which helped the top line to grow, leading to bottom-line growth as well," he said.
Bangladesh has been experiencing its most severe dengue outbreak this year, particularly in the July-September quarter. Some 1,520 dengue patients have died, while around 300,000 other have been infected with dengue until Wednesday this year.
More than 6,000 dengue patients are still admitted to different hospitals across the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Mr Alam said the business continued to grow every year in both sales and profit on local consumers' and health practitioners' faith in its products.
In ensuring quality products, Square Pharma has been putting more emphasis on research and development, he said.
Square Pharma gained a record annual profit of around Tk 19 billion in FY23. The board declared the highest-ever cash dividend of 105 per cent for FY23.
The drug manufacturer, which expanded its market share to more than 20 per cent in FY23 from over 18 per cent a year ago, seeks to further bolster its position in the domestic market.
Though Square Pharma's business focus is on the local market, it has gained a foothold in the export market too, having supplied products to well-regulated markets, such as the US and the EU nations.
Recently, Square Pharma signed contract manufacturing deals with non-listed Aristopharma and Euro Pharma to produce some products for Square Pharma to meet the growing demand for its existing products and to introduce new products.
Square Pharmaceuticals' stock, considered one of the best performing blue-chip stocks, took off from the floor in July this year after eight months following the business deal with Aristopharma.
The stock rose 0.52 per cent to close at Tk 211.90 on Wednesday.
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