Hanmi Pharmaceutical posts record-high 2015 sales

Hanmi Pharmaceutical posted record-high sales among local drugmakers in 2015, edging out former leaders Yuhan Corp. and Green Cross to newly become the top performing player in the industry.

Hanmi’s 2015 sales stood at about 1.32 trillion won ($1.07 billion), up some 73 percent from the previous year, while its operating income jumped 515 percent to 211.8 billion won, according to its regulatory filing.

Yuhan Corp. was pushed down to second place with sales of 1.13 trillion won and operating income of 85.8 billion won in 2015, up by 10.9 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, over the previous year. Green Cross followed with sales of 1.48 trillion won.

Meanwhile, Yuhan Corp. is slated to once again hand out the largest amount of dividends to company shareholders this year.

The company plans to issue a total of 205.4 billion won in dividends -- 2,000 won per common stock and 2,050 won per preferred stock -- likely to be the highest in the industry.

Last month, Hanmi shareholders received a 0.02 bonus share for every common stock owned, despite a lack of dividends. Bonus shares are free stocks given to existing shareholders based on their stock ownership volumes.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)