ICN Net Declines; Acquisitions Cited

ICN Pharmaceuticals in Costa Mesa said acquisition costs cut deeply into its fiscal 1987 third-quarter earnings, which totaled $756,000, down 79% from $3.7 million in the year-earlier period. Sales for the quarter increased 48% to $32 million, from $21.6 million a year earlier.

And ICN’s Viratek subsidiary posted a third-quarter net loss of $3.2 million, compared to a loss of $545,000 a year earlier. Revenue of $170,000 for the quarter was down 89% from the year-earlier’s $1.6 million.

For the first nine months of its current fiscal year, ICN reported net income of $5.7 million, up 22% from $7.3 million in the first nine months of fiscal 1986. Sales for the period were $83.7 million, up 20% from $69.5 million in the first nine months of last year.

The drug company has acquired seven other firms in the first nine months and attributed much of the increased sales and earnings to the performance of those acquisitions, which include a Spanish pharmaceuticals firm, a Dutch eyeglass manufacturer, a highly specialized diagnostic laboratory and two vitamin and health supplement manufacturers.

At Viratek, the nine-month loss was $7.8 million, contrasted with net income of $900,000 in the first nine months of last year. Revenue for the nine months of $555,000 was down 90% from $5.6 million.

Viratek officials said increased marketing and sales expenses and decreased sales of the company’s anti-viral drug, ribavirin, lowered its royalty income.