Following the firm's steady trend of improving on the disappointing results of 2006, AMRI has again managed to happily stay in black, turning in operating income of $2.1m over Q3 2007.
Operating income for the year-to-date hit $12.6m, significantly outshining last year's figure of just $1.6m.
This time last year, the company was in the midst of kicking off a restructuring plan for its large scale manufacturing business in New York in order to try and realise savings and improve the efficiency of the unit.
Despite an improvement in revenues from the large scale manufacturing business in Q1 this year, the unit has seen declines in both the second and third quarters compared to 2006, bringing in $19.6m and $17.9m respectively.
AMRI's pre-tax profit, however, is looking up. Q3 saw figures of £2.8m, with the first nine months of the year showing pre-tax profits of $14.8m - a healthy increase over 2006's $3.8m.
Growth in AMRI's discovery services and development/small scale manufacturing business served to mitigate the under-performing large scale manufacturing business, both turning in figures demonstrating a steady increase over last year.
The development/small scale manufacturing business showed the most impressive rate of growth, with revenues 37 per cent up on Q3 2006 to reach $13.1m. The increase resulted from increased demand for it pharmaceutical development services, according to the company.
Discovery services saw a modest increase over last year, with revenues of $10.5m, $0.5m up on last year.
Royalties earned from Sanofi-Aventis' antihistamine Allegra (fexofenadine) continue to fall, with Q3 figures six per cent down on last year to $6m. AMRI earns royalties on worldwide sales of Allegra and the authorised generic through patents relating to the drug's active ingredient.
Sales of the antihistamine have, however, been reasonably stable this year following a significant drop at the end of 2005 when Barr and Teva launched a competing product in the US.
This drop prompted increased reliance on the contract services side of the business, which has performed relatively well over the year to date and appears to have recovered somewhat from the 2006 glitch.
Total contract revenue for the year-to-date reached $122.7m, nine per cent up on last year. The largest contributor was the large scale manufacturing business which brought in $58.6m, just a hair's breadth above last year's $58.2m.
The third quarter also saw a $1.5m milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb thanks to a 2005 licensing agreement.
"Contract revenue for the third quarter grew 10 per cent from last year and was on the high end of our contract revenue projections," AMRI CEO Thomas D'Ambra said in a company statement.
"As we ramp up our international operations and begin to fully realise the benefits of our flexible cost model, we have high expectations for continued long-term growth in worldwide discovery services."
D'Ambra maintains that the company is on track with the large scale manufacturing restructuring, and anticipates the recently acquired facilities in India will start making a contribution to the company's earnings in 2008.
Going into the final quarter of the year, the company expects contract revenue in the $43m-$45m range, with full year estimates of $167-$169m.
