Indivior hikes profit guidance, records first antitrust charge

The FTSE 250 anti-addiction drug group reported revenues of $268m for the third quarter to 30 September, up 4% versus the same period last year or 5% on constant exchange rates.

This was the third consecutive quarter of net revenue growth, thanks mainly to maintaining the market share of its heroin addiction drug Suboxone Film at over 60%, when is had been expected to lose out even more to generic competition.

Indivior made a $149m operating loss versus a $48m profit last time, due to the effect of the litigation charge and other exceptional costs, which if excluded gave an adjusted profit of $71m.

Full year guidance was lifted to $1.06-1.075bn from the previous $1.0-1.03bn and adjusted net income to a range of $250-265m from $180-200m at constant exchange and excluding all exceptional items.

There was a cash balance at the period end of $586m, with net cash of $11m.

"As market growth has modestly improved, we are now able to raise our previous guidance for the full year," chief executive Shaun Thaxter said.

"This over-delivery against our plan allows us to use a proportion of the over-delivery to reinvest in the long-term organic growth drivers of our business, particularly in pre-launch education and market preparation for the launch of our monthly depot of buprenorphine."

On the antitrust class action litigation, Indivior noted that the plaintiffs had alleged, among other things, that Indivior violated federal and state antitrust laws in attempting to delay generic entry of alternatives to Suboxone tablets, and that Indivior unlawfully acted to lower the market share of these products.