MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish drugmaker Grifols <GRLS.MC> said on Thursday it was on track to meet its targets for the year after its net profit fell 7.5% in the third quarter from the same period a year ago but its core earnings rose 27%.
The company, which focuses on human plasma-based drugs, booked a net profit of 52 million euros ($56.11 million) in the period on revenues worth 1.79 billion euros, up 12%.
Analysts polled by LSEG expected revenues of 1.75 billion euros during the period.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the first nine months of the year rose 24% to 1.25 billion euros. Nine-month revenues rose nearly 9% year-on-year.
Grifols had said it expected revenues to rise more than 7% this year and EBITDA to surpass 1.8 billion euros.
Canadian fund Brookfield together with the Grifols family are in the process of taking over the company with a view to potentially delisting it.
The company has lost around 30% of its market value since January, when Gotham City Research, a short-seller fund, has released multiple reports accusing Grifols of overstating earnings and understating debt, which Grifols denies.
Spain’s stock market regulator CNMV said in September it was sanctioning Gotham City for allegedly manipulating the market for Grifols shares, and the pharma group for some defective financial reporting.
($1 = 0.9267 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip)
