BL Pharmtech Reports Losses Last Year...Aims for Turnaround This Year

KOSDAQ-listed BL Pharmtech has recorded losses for six consecutive years. The company stated that it reduced the size of its losses last year and is now aiming to turn a profit starting this year.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on March 26, BL Pharmtech reported standalone sales of 5.3 billion won last year, a decrease of approximately 31% compared to the previous year. The company also posted an operating loss of 1.6 billion won, marking its sixth consecutive year in the red. However, the operating loss was reduced by more than 10%.

BL Pharmtech is engaged in the sale of health functional foods, in vitro diagnostic medical devices, and the development of anticancer therapies. As of last year, the health functional food business accounted for 65.7% of its revenue, while other segments such as foods, diagnostic kits, and feminine hygiene products made up the remaining 34.3%.

The operating loss at BL Pharmtech was caused by selling and administrative expenses that exceeded gross profit. Last year, the company recorded a gross profit of 3.6 billion won, but spent 5.1 billion won on selling and administrative expenses. Among these, sales commissions were the highest at 2.1 billion won, presumed to be costs related to health functional food distribution.

Some expenses increased despite declining sales. BL Pharmtech spent 800 million won on service fees last year, a 57% increase compared to the previous year.

The primary cause of BL Pharmtech’s net loss was “investment expenditures.” At the end of last year, the company wrote off 10.8 billion won as investment expenditures, representing a 181% increase from the previous year.

The investment expenditures recognized as losses included the value of BL Melanis shares. BL Pharmtech reflected an impairment loss of 3.3 billion won on its stake in BL Melanis, meaning that more than half of the previous book value was written off as a loss.

BL Melanis is the company that recently caused a surge in BL Pharmtech’s stock price. On January 22, BL Pharmtech CEO Park Youngcheol announced that BL Melanis possesses molecular adhesive platform technology and is discussing technology transfer deals worth trillions of won with major global pharmaceutical companies. As a result, BL Pharmtech’s stock price soared by approximately 1,300% in just two weeks.

Due to these large-scale losses, BL Pharmtech has fallen into capital impairment. At the end of last year, the company’s total equity stood at 7 billion won, which is less than its capital of 13.3 billion won.

In light of this, the auditor also pointed out that there is significant uncertainty regarding BL Pharmtech’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Park Youngcheol, CEO of BL Pharmtech, stated, “An unqualified audit opinion was issued after the reasonableness of our accounts was thoroughly verified through the rigorous procedures of Samil PwC, our auditor,” adding, “All work has been conducted according to legal procedures and regulations, so there are no issues.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.