Indies Pharma Jamaica Ltd reported an 18 per cent decline in profit for its fiscal year ended October 31, as government customs bottlenecks and a late-October hurricane disrupted sales.
Net profit fell to $181.3 million, or $0.14 a share, from $221.2 million a year earlier, the pharmaceutical manufacturer said in audited results released this week. Revenue declined 2.8 per cent to $1.13 billion, while gross profit held steady at $775.5 million.
Chief Executive Guna Muppuri attributed the decline to delayed shipments caused by technical problems with Jamaica’s customs clearance system and slower customer orders ahead of Hurricane Melissa, which struck as a Category 5 storm on October 28.
“The delay in the arrival of goods that are out of stock” was “compounded by that computer glitch” in the government’s IT platform used to clear shipments, Muppuri said. The Trade Board confirmed last October it was experiencing “ongoing challenges with the Jamaica Single Window for Trade platform” that delayed import permits. The platform is operated by the Jamaica Customs Agency, with the Trade Board among 10 government agencies that process applications through the system.
Muppuri added that delayed drug approvals from the Ministry of Health constrained growth.
“If you give me those approvals for whatever we have that is stranded and being strangled, I’ll beat my own records,” he said. Regulatory hold-ups on an injectable drug pushed expected first-quarter sales into the second quarter.
Hurricane Melissa further dented results. “Purchases will go down by the customers”, who slowed orders “one week to 10 days ahead of the hurricane trajectory”, Muppuri said, noting the storm “brutally affected” the final week’s sales.
Operating profit fell to $262.1 million from $307.1 million, weighed by higher administrative costs and a $34.9-million inventory provision for expired sampling stock. Other income dropped to $10.6 million from $35.9 million, largely reflecting a prior-year insurance claim that didn’t recur.
Despite lower earnings, operating cash flow jumped to $363.8 million from $250 million, driven by working capital releases. Cash and equivalents nearly doubled to $421.7 million.
“Look at our cash flows as a true performance indicator,” Muppuri said. “The cash flows came in better than before.”
Indies refinanced debt in September, replacing a maturing $805-million bond at 7.0 per cent with a $1-billion private placement at 9.5 per cent for two years, after which the rate floats. NCB Capital Markets arranged the transaction. Finance costs held steady at $62.5 million.
The company invested $75.4 million, primarily in product development. In terms of approved drugs, Indies’ US Food and Drug Administration-approved Regadenoson injection began generating export revenue in March 2025, with the first batch yielding about $60 million. Wider US distribution is expected to ramp up, offering a foreign-currency hedge against domestic bottlenecks.
Intangible assets reached $494.7 million. Total assets rose to $2.27 billion, supported by a $435-million land revaluation.
