ICN Pharmaceuticals Posts $6.5-Million Quarterly Loss

Blaming bad investments and currency fluctuations, ICN Pharmaceuticals on Thursday reported a loss of $6.5 million for its fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 28--a sharp reversal from the $2.9-million profit reported for the period last year.

Revenue for the period was up 57%, from $42.5 million to $66.7 million, largely as a result of the November, 1989, acquisition of Flow Laboratories. Flow has annual revenue of about $100 million, and it contributed $21 million to ICN’s first-quarter sales.

The losses are the result of poor performance by the company’s investment portfolio and unfavorable currency adjustments on the firm’s outstanding debt. Company spokesman Jack Sholl said the company had about $70 million in foreign-denominated debt and an investment portfolio of about $30 million at the end of the quarter.

ICN stock closed at $3.50 Thursday, up 12.5 cents in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The first-quarter results were announced after the market closed.

The company’s three operating groups--SPI Pharmaceuticals, ICN Biomedicals, and Viratek--reported combined profits of $4.1 million for the quarter, but the parent firm’s corporate finance side was heavily in the red.

Without an extraordinary credit of $1.3 million, ICN’s performance would have been even worse. In its financial statement, the company registered “other expenses” of $15.5 million; it had $200,000 for that category a year ago.

ICN lost $82 million for fiscal 1989, largely because of writedowns resulting from the company’s inability to obtain Food and Drug Aministration approval to market the drug ribavirin in this country as a treatment for AIDS.

In February, SPI announced a $100-million plan to merge with Galenika, a major Yugoslavian drug company. SPI has said the merger plans are moving forward.