Martek cuts losses, but remains in the red
has reported net losses of $3.7 million (€3.8m) for the third
quarter of the current year, but said that its restructuring
efforts were beginning to bear fruit.
Martek Biosciences, the US group which specialises in omega-3 oils, has reported net losses of $3.7 million (€3.8m) for the third quarter of the current year, but said that its restructuring efforts were beginning to bear fruit.
Losses were impacted by restructuring charges of $1.3 million, but without this would have shown an improvement on the previous year, the company said. Henry Linsert, CEO of Martek, said the positive trend was likely to continue and the company would be back in the black for the fourth quarter.
Sales for the third quarter showed a marked improvement on the previous year, rising to $13.5 million from $5.6 million.
Sales of nutritional products increased by 167 per cent for the quarter, primarily due to increased sales of Martek's oils to the company's infant formula licensees. Over 80 per cent of Martek's Q3 revenue was generated by sales of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) to just three companies - Mead Johnson, Wyeth and Abbott.
Mead Johnson and Abbott are both marketing supplemented infant formulas in the US, and all three are collectively marketing supplemented term infant formula in over 25 countries around the world, the company said. All three companies have registered increased sales for their DHA and ARA products, and Martek is confident of further growth in this potentially lucrative market.
Martek completed the acquisition of OmegaTech, a producer of DHA, in April this year and has since been restructuring its operations in order to integrate the new unit, entailing the charges which impacted third quarter results.
