Hi-Tech Pharmacal reports lower 4Q earnings

Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., an Amityville-based maker of generic drugs, reported lower earnings for the last quarter despite solid revenue growth.

For the company's fourth quarter, which ended April 30, Hi-Tech earned $0.73 per share on overall profits of $10 million, a year-over-year drop of 21 percent from last year's profits of $12.7 million, according to Hi-Tech's earnings report released Tuesday. Analysts had expected earnings of $0.78 per share.

Hi-Tech attributed the lower earnings to increased costs of research and development, which increased 45 percent  in the past quarter.

Sales revenue for the company, which makes both prescription and over-the-counter medicine, rose 7.2 percent to $61.3 million from the same period last year. A surge in sales of Fluticasone Propionate nasal spray, the generic version of a drug used to treat asthma and allergies, helped boost sales, the earnings report stated.

The drugmaker also reported growth in yearly sales and profit figures for their fiscal year ending April 30. Hi-Tech had sales revenue of $230 million last year and a profit of $48 million, both increases from the year both.

"We surpassed $200 million in sales for the first time as we reported record sales for both the fourth quarter and year end," Hi-Tech chief executive David Seltzer said in a media release. "In addition, we are having success with the products we launched in the past fiscal year."

Hi-Tech Pharmacal employees about 400 people, including about 290 on Long Island. It also has a facility in Richmond, Va.

In June, the company received a $500,000 grant from The Empire State Development Corp. to expand its Amityville facility in return for keeping the 290 jobs on Long Island and creating dozens of new ones.