Beacon’s profit soars as pandemic benefits drug business

Beacon Pharmaceuticals posted a massive increase in its quarterly earnings compared to the same period a year ago, thanks to the strong demand for drugs during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a filing with Dhaka Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the company said that its earnings per share or EPS increased to Tk 2.01 for January-March 2021, up by a whopping 704 percent from Tk 0.25 in the corresponding period.

The drug maker's EPS for nine months till March stood at Tk 3.27 against Tk 0.55 for July 2019-March 2020.

Beacon is one of the few local companies that made Remdesivir, a widely used medicine in Covid-19 patient treatment. Last year, the drugmaker saw strong demand for this medicine at home and abroad.

"We have so far exported around 50,000 vials. We are not exporting that much as the demand for it increased significantly in the local market," said Ebadul Karim, managing director of Beacon Pharmaceuticals.

And, it is not so easy to make Remdesivir as it takes 17 to 18 days to produce a batch, he said.

In the DSE filing, the company further informed that the company's turnover between July 2020 to March 2021 increased by 50 percent from the corresponding period of the previous year.

On the other hand, total operating expenses increased by only 9.60 percent year-on-year.

In 2006, Beacon started its business operation with a vision to become a global company that will meet the world’s greatest health needs. 

At the end of Wednesday's session, the price of each of its shares stood at Tk 125.20.