Indivior lifts guidance as H1 sales rise

FTSE 250 specialty pharmaceuticals firm Indivior lifted its full-year guidance on Friday as it reported a rise in first-half net sales.

For the half to 30 June, net revenue rose to $531m from $517m in the same period a year ago. However, operating profit declined to $198m from $230m as the group invested in research and development and incurred selling, general and administrative expenses.

In addition, the company lifted its full-year guidance for net revenue to a range of £1bn to $1.03bn from $945m to $975m previously and its net adjusted income guidance to $180m to $200m from $155m to $180m at constant exchange rates.

Indivior said the upgraded guidance recognises current market conditions in the US are continuing into the second half, but assumes no deterioration in generic tablet pricing, limited impact of branded competition, and investment of $35m above original assumptions in driving innovations.

Chief executive officer Shaun Thaxter said: “Our performance this year to date is ahead of our plan.

"US market growth has continued in mid-to-high single digits, while Suboxone Film share has been strong, driven by a couple of formulary gains and the resilience of its franchise with patients and physicians. This resilience was underlined by the outcome of the first ANDA trial which confirmed the strength of our intellectual property protection for Suboxone Film. Accordingly we are today raising our full-year guidance for net revenue.”

Numis said sales were tracking significantly ahead of its top of the range $980m sales forecasts for full-year 2016.

“We would expect consensus to review its overly bearish outlook for FY17 on the back of this solid performance,” the brokerage said.

At 0920 BST, shares were up 4.3% to 284.10p.