Costa Mesa’s ICN Reports $11.5-Million Loss

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported a loss of $11.5 million for 1993 and blamed some of its shortfall on costs from a yearlong proxy battle with dissident investor Rafi M. Khan over control of the company.

The drug conglomerate, based in Costa Mesa, said in a news release that it spent $7.6 million on legal costs during 1993 and $2.6 million on research and development. That put its annual loss at 57 cents a share.

The company released its year-end results on Friday, when the stock market was closed for Good Friday and the company’s own operations were shut down. Officials were not available to comment.

For 1992, the company lost $64.2 million, or $4.67 a share. The numbers are not comparable to those for last year, though, because they include results for a subsidiary that now reports earnings and revenue separately.

ICN, which had 1993 sales of $62.6 million, owns substantial stakes in three Costa Mesa-based subsidiaries: SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc., ICN Biomedicals Inc. and Viratek Inc.

SPI reported that earnings of its combined operations, excluding those in Yugoslavia, rose to $21 million, double those of 1992. These gains reflected an increases in sales, mostly attributable to SPI’s Mexican unit, where sales were up 19% from 1992, the company said, though it did not release the amount of those sales. The increase, the company said, was largely because of the continued growth of SPI’s antiviral drug Virazole.

SPI said its Yugoslav venture, ICN Galenika, a drug manufacturer based in Belgrade, broke even for the year.

In its news release, the parent company did not state earnings or revenue figures for ICN Biomedicals Inc. or Viratek, ICN’s drug development unit.