Before the opening bell on Aug. 31, Catalent Inc. (CTLT, Financial), a multinational corporation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, released its fourth-quarter financial results.
By the numbers
The maker of drug delivery technologies recorded adjusted earnings of 90 cents per share, up from 70 cents reported last year. Revenue surged 31% from the prior-year quarter to $947.6 million. Analysts had anticipated revenue of $943.2 million. Acquisitions of the cell and gene therapy businesses as well as the Anagni facility acquisition drove revenue higher. This was partially negated, however, by the divestiture of a manufacturing facility situated in Braeside, Australia.
Reflecting on the quarter, CEO John Chiminski said:
"Our fourth quarter results reflect record organic revenue growth significantly above our initial expectations and primarily driven by elevated demand in our Biologics and Oral and Specialty Delivery segments. We achieved these record results even as we took substantial measures to keep our employees safe during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We also continued to take actions to strengthen our balance sheet during the quarter, which reduced our net leverage roughly a full turn to 2.8x, and built our cash position to more than $950 million, positioning us to continue our growth investments."
Segment details
Net revenue for Softgel and Oral Technologies amounted to $291.2 million, a marginal growth over the past year. Stripping out the impact of the divestiture of the segment's consumer health manufacturing site in Australia last October, revenue rose 7%. Revenue growth was driven primarily by robust demand in the division's portfolio of prescription products in North America, coupled with demand increases across Europe and Latin America in the consumer health business. The segment's Ebitda climbed 2% to $85.5 million.
In the biologics segment, net revenue jumped a mammoth 102% to $357.8 million. The net revenue growth was attributed to increased demand in the gene therapy business. In addition, higher volume in the U.S. drug product and drug substance offerings aided sales. The division's Ebitda grew 93% to $86.9 million.
Oral and Specialty delivery segment revenue came in at $218.7 million, which reflected a gain of 22% as compared the fourth quarter of last year. The growth was driven by new product launches in the respiratory and ophthalmic specialty platform. The segment's Ebitda stood at $83.8 million, which grew 37% year over year.
By contrast, Clinical Supply Services witnessed a revenue decline of 2% to $83.6 million. Likewise, Ebitda plunged 8% to $21 million.
Financials
At the end of the quarter, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $953.2 million and total debt of $3 billion.
Guidance
Catalent has provided an outlook for fiscal 2021. While net revenue is projected to fall within the range of $3.45 billion to $3.60 billion, adjusted Ebitda is estimated to lie between $840 million and $890 million. Adjusted net income is predicted to be around $390 million to $435 million.
Disclosure: I do not hold any positions in the stocks mentioned.
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