Valeant Pharmaceuticals Q1 revenue rises 25%, but loss doubles to $27.5M

LAVAL, Que. – Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (TSX:VRX) saw its net loss more than double in the first quarter, with the Quebec-based concern citing costs associated with its acquisition of Medicis Pharmaceuticals Corp. among the reasons.

Valeant, Canada’s largest publicly traded pharmaceutical company, says its net loss for the three months ended March 31 was $27.5 million or nine cents a share.

That compared with a first-quarter loss of $12.9 million or four cents per share in the same 2012 period.

However, total revenue rose 25 per cent to almost $1.04 billion from $750.9 million.

Valeant said selling, general and administrative expenses rose four per cent in the quarter to $242 million, or about 23 per cent of revenue.

“SG&A was unusually high this quarter due to the integration of Medicis, and we expect this ratio to return to historical levels for the remainder of 2013,” the company said in its earnings release.

“Despite a slow January due to the integration of the Valeant and Medicis sales organizations, we delivered another solid quarter of strong growth in cash EPS and adjusted cash flow to our shareholders,” added chairman and CEO Michael Pearson.

“We were particularly pleased with the strong organic growth of our emerging market segment, which was primarily driven by Poland, Russia, Brazil, South East Asia and South Africa, as well as the continued growth in many of our promoted brands.”

Valeant is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of dermatology, neurology and branded generics.