Hikma Pharmaceuticals to spend $120 mln on infrastructure

London-listed Hikma Pharmaceuticals Limited is planning to invest almost $120 million in infrastructure development, Mazen Darwazah, executive vice chairman, chief executive of MENA and Emerging Markets, told CNBC Arabia on Wednesday.

The company will build two plants in Algeria for cancer drugs, in addition to the newly-added new production lines in Egypt. 

Through its partnership with Omega Pharma, Hikma will launch 30 products exclusively in the Middle East.

Commenting on Q2 2018 financial results, Darwazah said that the first-half growth was driven by launching new pharmaceutical products in the United States, where operations account for 60 percent of the company’s business.

Hikma also witnessed strong growth in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other GCC countries, along with Egypt.

The Middle East is maintaining growth, despite a marginal decline in North Africa due to closure of one plant for renovations.

"Growth was not only on the level of sales, but also profitability driven by production cost efficiency and enhancing performance," he added. 

The multinational generic pharmaceutical company reported an 11 percent rise year-on-year (YoY) in revenue to $989 million for H1 2018. Operating profit jumped 54 percent YoY to $174 million.

The company decided to increase interim dividend to $0.12 per share, from 0.11 per share for the same period.