LSL PHARMA GROUP REPORTS ITS FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR-END 2024 RESULTS

Canada NewsWire

BOUCHERVILLE, QC, May 1, 2025

BOUCHERVILLE, QC, May 1, 2025 /CNW/ - LSL PHARMA GROUP INC. (TSXV: LSL) (the "Corporation" or "LSL Pharma "), a Canadian integrated pharmaceutical company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 ("Q4-24" and "FY-24"). All amounts are presented in millions of Canadian dollars.

FY-24 vs FY-23

   -- Total revenues were $17.7 million compared to $10.0 million, up 77%; 
 
   -- CMO revenues more than doubled at $10.5 million compared to $4.9 million; 
 
   -- Eye-care segment revenues grew from $5.2 million to $7.2 million, a 40% 
      increase; 
 
   -- Operating Profit was $0.8 million compared to a $2.0 million operating 
      loss; 
 
   -- Net income of $3.3 million compared to a $8.5 million net loss, a $11.8 
      million improvement; 
 
   -- EBITDA of $6.8 million compared to EBITDA loss of $5.5 million; 
 
   -- Adjusted EBITDA of $2.4 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.6 
      million, up $3.0 million. 

Q4-24 vs Q4-23

   -- Total revenues were $5.4 million compared to $3.5 million, up 56%; 
 
   -- CMO revenues tripled at $4.3 million compared to $1.4 million; 
 
   -- Eye-care segment reported revenues of $1.1 million, down 47%; 
 
   -- Operating Profit was $0.3 million compared to a $0.7 million operating 
      loss; 
 
   -- Net income of $4.5 million compared to a $1.3 million net loss, up $5.8 
      million; 
 
   -- EBITDA of $5.6 million compared to an EBITDA loss of $0.5 million; 
 
   -- Adjusted EBITDA of $0.8 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.4 
      million, a $1.2 million improvement. 

Corporate Development

   -- Acquisition of Dermolab Pharma and Virage Santé to expand our CMO 
      activities; 
 
   -- Completed 2 private placements for total gross proceeds of $8.2 million 
      to strengthen working capital and balance sheet; 
 
   -- Raised new long-term debt totalling $9.0 million to help fund 
      acquisitions; 
 
   -- Now reporting revenues by business segments to better reflect the 
      performance of the CMO and Eye-Care operations; 
 
   -- Developed new international revenue channels representing revenues of 
      $1.4 million for FY-24; 
 
   -- Initiated the development of five new Eye-care products for the Canadian 
      and US markets. 

Subsequent to year-end

   -- Entered into two strategic agreements to expand the Eye-Care pipeline 
      with up to ten (10) new eye-drop products; 
 
   -- Secured new loans and other sources of funding for $1.7 million to 
      support our growth; 
 
   -- Appointed Mr. Louis Laflamme to its board of directors. Mr. Laflamme was 
      President, CEO and director of OpSens Inc. (TSX:OPS) from January 2013 to 
      March 2024 prior to its acquisition for $345 million; 
 
   -- Completed the purchase of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing line to 
      increase production capacity at the Steri-Med Pharma plant and facilitate 
      the development of new Eye-care products; 
 
   -- Granted an aggregate of 1,285,000 stock options ("Options") including 
      1,050,000 to certain officers and directors in accordance with the 
      Corporation's long-term incentive compensation plan. 

"We are extremely proud of the progress made during the past year. The Dermolab Pharma and Virage Santé acquisitions have helped us broaden the service offering of our CMO platform and reach a level of critical mass to take advantage of our corporate structure by generating commercial and operational synergies", mentioned Francois Roberge, President and CEO of LSL Pharma. "While we continue to work on addressing FDA requirements for the ability to manufacture Avaclyr and other products aimed at the large and lucrative US market, the development of five new ointment products is progressing nicely at Steri-Med. After securing the Canadian commercial rights to ten (10) eye-drop products, the product pipeline of our Eye-care division is expanding rapidly and should provide a material contribution to our growth over the coming years", added M. Roberge.

"We have reached record quarterly revenues and net profits in Q4-24 and for the full year 2024. The addition of the two CMO acquisitions, combined with the strong and growing contribution of our other operating units has had a significant impact on our results. During the year, we were successful in raising significant capital to strengthen our balance sheet and fund two accretive acquisitions that will materially impact our results over the coming years", said Luc Mainville, Executive Vice-president and CFO of LSL Pharma.

Financial Results

The Corporation is now reporting its revenues by business segment with revenues from LSL Laboratory, Dermolab Pharma ("Dermolab"), and Virage Santé ("VSI") now grouped into the CMO segment, and the Steri-Med Pharma ("Steri-Med") revenues presented in the Eye-care segment.

   -- The Corporation delivered strong total revenues during the last fiscal 
      year at $17.7 million, representing a 77% increase over the $10.0 million 
      achieved during FY-23. The CMO revenues benefited from the addition of 
      VSI and Dermolab, as well as the increased capacity created at the LSL 
      Laboratory plant. CMO revenues for FY-24 increased 116% over FY-23. 
      Dermolab contributed for one month to the FY-24 CMO revenues while VSI 
      contributed for 7 months. During FY-24, revenues for the Eye-care 
      division increased 40% over FY-23 despite the ending of the US Shortage 
      in Q1-24. During the year 2024, Steri-Med was able to increase production 
      and make products available for new international clients. We expect 
      those sales to continue and increase as a % of total sales of Steri-Med 
      products. 
 
   -- Assuming a full year performance for each of VSI and Dermolab on the same 
      basis as their FY-24 contribution, our total revenues would have exceeded 
      $30 million, compared to the $17.7 million delivered in FY-24, and $10.0 
      million for FY-23. 
 
   -- Adjusted Gross Profit for the FY-24 period was $6.8 million compared to 
      $2.9 million for FY-23, a $3.9 million or 134% increase. Adjusted Gross 
      Profit benefited from the contribution of Dermolab, and VSI but more 
      importantly from the increased performance of LSL Laboratory described 
      above. The increased production at Steri-Med also contributed to improve 
      gross profit as the plant was able to increase production to generate 
      more sales and boost inventory levels at year-end. 
 
   -- Sales, General and Administrative ("SG&A") expenses were up 24% in FY-24 
      compared to FY-23. These results fully demonstrate the benefit of 
      centralizing SG&A function at HO as revenue growth for the FY period 
      significantly outpaced SG&A growth at 77% vs 24%. 
 
   -- Financial Expenses for FY-24 were slightly higher than prior year periods 
      with a 5% increase. Several initiatives were taken during the year to 
      reduce the cost of carrying our various loans and debts. These 
      initiatives should help reduce our cost of capital for the upcoming year. 
 
   -- For the FY-24 period, net income stood at $3.3 million compared to a $8.5 
      million net loss for FY-23, a $11.8 million improvement. The YoY 
      performance was driven by the strong increase in gross profit derived 
      from the important increase in revenues, a tight control on SG&A and 
      financial expenses. In addition to the above, the most significant factor 
      impacting our results was the $4.9 million gain on business acquisitions 
      that resulted from the acquisition of Dermolab. 
 
   -- For the FY-24 period, EBITDA was $6.8 million, up $12.3 million compared 
      to the prior year EBITDA loss of $5.5 million. Same as for the net income 
      and loss, the EBITDA performance was impacted by the stronger operating 
      margins and the gain on business acquisition. 
 
   -- For FY-24, the $(A)$ EBITDA was a $2.4 million compared to a $0.6 million 
      (A) EBITDA loss for FY-23, a $3.0 million improvement. The increase in 
      (A) EBITDA in FY-24 compared to the prior year fully demonstrates the 
      improvements of our financial performance as we expand our CMO footprint, 
      continue to take advantage of our operating capacity and leverage our 
      head office with better control over our expenses. 

Fourth Quarter Financial Results -- Three-Month Period Ended December 31, 2024

   -- The Corporation delivered strong total revenues in Q4-24, of $5.4 million, 
      up 56% compared to Q4-23. We achieved this performance despite a drop in 
      revenues from our Eye-care division. CMO revenues tripled at $4.3 million 
      in Q4-24 compared to $1.4 million for Q4-23, a 199% increase. The 
      Dermolab and VSI acquisition contributed to CMO revenues with VSI 
      contributing for the full quarter and Dermolab contributing one month. 
      Also, CMO revenues benefited from the growth in revenues at LSL 
      Laboratory which is now leveraging the capital investments made over the 
      last 2 years for expanding service offering and increasing capacity. 
      Revenues from the Eye-care division were down 47% during Q4-24 compared 
      to Q4-23 despite new international orders for the Steri-Med products. 
      Last year, Q4-23 revenues benefited from important non-recurrent sale of 
      products to the US under an FDA exemption due to a local shortage of 
      Erythromycin. Such sales ended in Q1-24. 
 
   -- Adjusted Gross Profit for Q4-24 stood at $1.9 million, a 452% jump over 
      Q4-23. 
 
   -- SG&A expenses for Q4-24 were $1.2 million compared to $0.8 million in 
      Q4-23, a 41% increase, mainly due to the addition of Dermolab and VSI. 
 
   -- For the Q4-24 period, the Corporation generated net income of $4.5 
      Million compared to a $1.3 million net loss for Q4-23, a $5.8 million 

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

May 01, 2025 07:39 ET (11:39 GMT)