SK bioscience net profit declines 73 percent in third quarter

A medical professional holds a vial of SKYCovione vaccine, developed and manufactured by SK bioscience, at a public health center in Incheon [YONHAP]

SK bioscience’s net profit fell more than 70 percent in the third quarter on the slowing demand for Covid-19 vaccines.

The company reported 20.8 billion won ($14.6 million) in net profit, down 73 percent on year, in line with the market consensus of 19.9 billion won compiled by FnGuide.

Quarterly revenues plummeted 58.8 percent to 91 billion won. It beat the market expectation of 83.5 billion won.

Operating profit stood at 21.4 billion won, a 78.7 percent year-on-year decrease. Analyst consensus was 23.6 billion won.

The Korean vaccine maker cited low demand for Covid-19 vaccines as the major reason for the weak performance. SK bioscience is a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) for Novavax Covid-19 vaccines.

“Sales from the CMO deal with Novavax declined in this quarter,” the company said in Monday’s statement. “But the profitability will grow in the fourth quarter as we can reflect the sales of SKYCovione.”

SKYCovione, Korea’s first domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine, was approved for use in Korea in late June, and has been awaiting approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and World Health Organization.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in March signed a 200-billion-won deal with SK bioscience for 10 million doses of SKYCovione.

Analysts remain skeptical about the company’s future.

“Demand for vaccinations is on the decline globally,” said Lee Na-kyung, an analyst at Heungkuk Securities. “It is necessary for SK bioscience to find a new direction for its business.”

As of Oct. 18, only 1,529 people got the SKYCovione vaccines in Korea.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]