Feb 28 (Reuters) - Spanish pharmaceutical group PharmaMar posted a 32% drop in annual net profit on Monday from record results a year earlier but proposed to raise its dividend by 8%.

PharmaMar, which develops marine-inspired cancer drugs, said its 2021 net profit fell to 92.9 million euros ($104.31 million) from 137.3 million euros in 2020.

Recurring revenue, which includes net sales plus royalties from sales by partners, rose 27% to 164.8 million euros over the same period, boosted by an 18% jump in sales in its cancer treatment division.

Royalty revenues more than doubled to 41 million euros boosted by U.S. sales of its Zepzelca lung-cancer drug by PharmaMar's partner Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

However, sales at its smaller diagnostics unit shrank 62% yearly, dragged by lower income from COVID-19 tests due to lower demand and a sharp decline in prices, the company said.

PharmaMar said it would propose a cash dividend of 0.65 euro gross per share, an 8% increase from the previous year.

Group R&D spending increased by 34% year on year, including a 19 million-euro investment in clinical trials of its Aplidin drug -- initially developed to treat a type of bone-marrow cancer -- as a COVID-19 treatment.

Early results published in January showed the drug had a powerful antiviral effect against coronavirus variants. ($1 = 0.8906 euro) (Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Nathan Allen and Jonathan Oatis)