SK Bioscience Faces Sharp Earnings Drop Amid COVID Endemic... 3Q Sales Down 59%

Packaging work for the COVID-19 vaccine 'Skycovione' is underway at SK Bioscience L House in Andong-si, Gyeongbuk. (Photo by SK Bioscience)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] SK Bioscience announced on the 31st that its preliminary operating results for the third quarter of this year were sales of 91.053 billion KRW, operating profit of 21.359 billion KRW, and net profit of 20.778 billion KRW. Compared to the same period last year, sales decreased by 34.2%, operating profit by 65.1%, and net profit by 55.0%.

As the COVID-19 pandemic began transitioning to an endemic phase, the company's performance sharply deteriorated. The company explained, "Sales recognition from contract manufacturing (CMO) of SKYCovione and Novavax vaccines was sluggish." Last year, there was a base effect from the sales of Novavax raw materials supplied domestically, whereas this year, Novavax CMO sales declined due to preparations for producing variant vaccines.

For the cumulative results this year, sales reached 316.425 billion KRW, a 33.8% decrease compared to last year's 478.1 billion KRW. Cumulative operating profit was 106.3 billion KRW, and net profit was 94.71 billion KRW, down 51.7% and 44.7%, respectively.

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