South Africa's Aspen's half year earnings up, expects coronavirus impact

South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd reported a marginal rise in half-year normalised earnings on Thursday as the drugmaker's manufacturing unit benefited from the restart of heparin sales to third party customers.

The nearly 170-year-old drug maker, with a presence in about 56 countries, said normalised headline earnings per share from continuing operations rose to 707 cents in the six-months ended Dec. 31, from a restated 702.4 cents in 2018.

Aspen said the outbreak of the coronavirus has resulted in its Chinese commercial team being largely inactive since February, which will inevitably impact performance.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)