MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Recordati fell as much as 4.3% on Tuesday after the Italian drug maker unveiled a cautious outlook for core profit margin in both 2023 and 2025 that came in just short of analyst expectations.
In its statement on full-year results, the company said it expected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin to stand at around 36% in 2023 and 2025. It gave no figure for 2024.
Analysts at Jefferies mentioned a company-provided consensus of analysts forecasts looking for EBITDA margins at 36.1% and 36.6% in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
Recordati's head of finance, Luigi La Corte, told Reuters that the company had been prudent in its outlook, choosing to be more ambitious in its investments on innovation.
"But our 2022 EBITDA margin remains among the highest of our peers" (at 36.3%), he said on the sidelines of an analysts' meeting .
Recordati will continue to pursue its strategy focused on driving organic growth in its current product portfolio, along with accretive M&A and business development, the company said in a statement.
In its three-year outlook, Recordati sees a 2023 core profit of between 700 and 730 million euros, rising to between 810 and 850 million euros in 2025.
The Milan-based company envisaged revenue of between 2.25 billion euros and 2.35 billion euros in 2025.
In 2022 Recordati posted an EBITDA of 672.8 million euros ($717.9 million), with a solid revenue increase of 17% on an annual basis to 1.85 billion euros.
The group said no significant changes to the capital allocation and dividend policy are planned.
Shares were down 1.24% as of 1635 GMT, underperforming the Italian blue-chips index FTSE Mib, which was falling by about 0.7%.
($1 = 0.9372 euros)