Medipost said Wednesday that the company’s operating and net losses magnified despite its record-breaking sales in 2019.

Medipost headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

The biopharmaceutical company registered 45.8 billion ($38.7 million) in sales in 2019, up 3.2 percent from 2018. However, it marked larger operating and net losses of 7.6 billion won, and 13.4 billion won, respectively, compared with the previous year.

Despite the spin-off of its cosmetics division, Medipost’s sales continued to increase for the third consecutive year as all divisions, including cord blood, cell therapy, and health functional foods, fared well, it said.

The company ascribed its enlarged operating loss due to increased development costs, and net loss growth to equity method loss, increased financial expenses, and deferred tax liabilities of affiliates.

“However, most of these losses came from items that do not result in actual cash outflows, and operating cash flow even increased 500 million won to 80 billion won in 2019,” a company official said. “In the second and third quarters of last year, stem cell sales were sluggish amid declining consumer trust of biopharmaceutical products because of a series of failures developing in new drugs.”

The losses widened further increased as the company continued to increase its R&D spending, including the newly launched injection therapy, the official noted. Considering one-off costs and sales trends, the company expects that its earnings will improve significantly this year, he added.

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