Intravenous Infusion Records 55 Percent Jump in Revenue

- A Mr Klutse in an interaction with some participants at the meeting

Intravenous Infusions PLC, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, recorded a 55 per cent hike in revenue from GH¢10, 596,009 in 2016 to GH¢16, 371,794 last year.

Profit after tax stood at GH¢2, 730,682 in 2017, a huge increase in from the GH¢669, 945 generated in 2016.

A total of GH¢6, 298,360 was used to fund the company's operations throughout the year 2017.

At the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra, Board Chairman, Mr Isaac Osei, noted that the turnaround in fortunes of the company was as a result of a strategic direction that transformed its two business units; Large Volume Parenteral (LVP) and Small Volume Parenteral (SVP), which drove up revenues.

He said the increase in operational cash flow was also due to the relative stability of the Ghana Cedi against the United States of America (USA) dollar.

Despite the progress, he said the company declared no dividend for the year in line with the three-year forecast given at the Initial Public Offer (IPO) stage in 2015 for the company to return to declaring dividend in three years, adding that appropriate dividend policy for 2018 and beyond would be considered during the year.

Mr Osei said the board had secured an agreement in principle with some shareholders to participate in raising GH¢5.94 million through private placement to finance the remaining capital and non-capital items needed to expand and improve operations of the company.

As part of strategies to grow its revenues, the company, he explained had entered into a collaboration with the School of Pharmacy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for the formulation of certain generic SVP and LVPs to deliver new products in the coming years.

Mr David Kafui Klutse, Managing Director of the company, said the company was challenged with adequate working capital due to delay in payment of supplies to hospitals and health facilities by government.

Currently, he said the company was owed over GH¢10 million by government for supplies of infusions made last year under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)and appealed to government to FastTrack payment to save the company from negative effects.

"We trade in a product that is sold solely to the hospitals, but the delays in repayment from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for more than a year has led to an accumulated debt of about???. Our situation is dire because the banks are not ready to give us loans because they fear that the NHIA will not pay back in good time for us to pay back," he lamented.

To address the challenge, Mr Klutse said the company had applied for funding under the government's Business Assistance Funds to help in settling current overdraft with its bankers.

"We want to continue to be a good partner to the government in the provision of health care to the people because the NHIS is one of the best social interventions. We do not want to get to that point where cash and carry will become an option or will become the only option for us, but we cannot also just let infusions go without money," he stated.

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