Zealand Pharma: shares fall after loss widens

(CercleFinance.com) - Zealand Pharma shares are down on Thursday after the Danish biotechnology company reported lower sales and a wider loss for the first half of the year.


At lunchtime on Thursday, Zealand said its quarterly loss widened to 219 million Danish kronor, or 34.3 million dollars, from -121.5 million Danish kronor, or -18.6 million dollars, a year ago.

The Copenhagen-based firm said its sales dropped to 24.9 million Danish kronor (3.9 million dollars) in the first six months of the year, compared to 86.7 million Danish kronor (13.3 million dollars), due to the absence of milestone payments.

In the meantime, its net operating costs jumped to 236.9 million Danish kronor (37.1 million dollars), from 174.8 million Danish kronor (26.8 million dollars) a year earlier.

Even so, Zealand maintained its financial guidance for full-year 2018, targeting net operating costs within a range of 475 million to 495 million Danish kronor (c. 76 million-80 million dollars).

Most of the spend is related to increased clinical development costs associated with Phase 3 trials, the company said.

Zealand Pharma shares were down 1.4% after these results.

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