Between January and March, Grifols earned €21.4 million, compared with a loss of €108.2 million in the same period in 2023 | Companies

On Tuesday, Grifols waited until the Spanish stock market closed to report first-quarter results, which show the blood products company earned 21.4 million euros between January and March – compared with a 108.2 million loss recorded for the same period. a year earlier, and which increased its revenue by 5.5% to 1.626 million. Plagued for months by investor doubts about its management, Grifols decided not to release its figures until after the stock market closed, but was cautious – in February, when it released the previous year’s results, it did so before the market closed. opening and shares fell 34.9% throughout the day – but that didn’t stop it from being a turbulent day for the Catalan pharmaceutical multinational. In a new report, Gotham City Research, the fund that sparked the company’s current stock price crisis in January, accused Grifols of improperly diverting funds to its shareholder Scranton. The stock started down 4.5% but then stabilized to close unchanged.

The results, the company said in a press release, allow it to maintain its “commitment to profitable and sustainable growth focused on generating free cash flow and reducing debt.” Net income of $21.4 million assumes a reversal of losses from last year’s first quarter, which included costs from the company’s restructuring process. In total, net profit for 2023 amounted to 59 million euros. Grifols Executive President Thomas Glanzmann emphasized that this first quarter was “characterized by revenue growth, increased profitability, improved corporate governance and advances in innovation,” as well as three important facts: the addition of Nacho Abia to the company. a new CEO, a bond offering of €1,000 million and the progress of the closing planned for June, the sale of 20% of the Shanghai Raas business for €1,600 million.

Grifols’ goal has always been to demonstrate, despite shareholder doubts raised by the four attacks on Gotham City Research, that it can manage its business and reduce its debt – for which it will use a bond offering and the sale of the Chinese business through which the company hopes to meet its 2025 maturity date. Net financial debt reported on the balance sheet in the first quarter amounted to 10.948 million euros, this figure includes 1.137 million financial liabilities related to the lease of plasma centers, which are not part of the loan agreement. It was confidence in Grifols’s ability to repay its debt that began to crack after the pandemic hit, which slashed the company’s revenue – as mobility restrictions forced plasma collection centers to reduce activity – that began the crisis. stock crisis. Now demonstrating the ability to repay debt is one of the obsessions of Grifols, which wants to set its leverage ratio at four times gross operating profit (EBITDA). The first quarter closed under the credit agreement (which excludes lease finance obligations) with a leverage ratio of 6.8 times EBITDA, compared with the 6.3 times reported at year-end 2023.

First quarter revenue amounted to 1.626 million euros (5.5% more than in the same period of the previous year at constant exchange rates, that is, excluding changes in the exchange rate of the euro and the dollar, the two currencies in which Grifols operates) supported primarily by good business results “Biopharmaceuticals”, which reached 1.395 million (9.4% more), and despite a decrease in sales of the Diagnostics division (158 million revenue, 8.3% less).

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