Oslo, Norway, 18 November 2016
Production at Norwegian pharmaceutical company Vistin Pharma ASA's metformin plant in Kragerø, Norway has been temporarily halted due to an unscheduled maintenance stop to repair one of the reactors. The maintenance team at the plant has discovered a fracture in a reactor, which will have to be replaced before normal production can resume. Vistin Pharma estimates that production downtime will last for approximately five weeks and will result in a lowered production volume in the fourth quarter of approximately 300 metric tonnes. Despite this unforeseen event, the Company does not expect any major negative consequences or problems in supplying existing orders, as customers will be supplied from the Company's existing inventory.
Vistin Pharma estimates a negative EBITDA-impact in the fourth quarter of NOK 4-5 million from this incident.
"We have uncovered a fracture in our metformin reactor which needs to be repaired. Unfortunately, this will take approximately five weeks to resolve. However, we have a good overview of the situation and measures needed to resume production. I can assure all our stakeholders that we are working as hard as we can to repair the component with the goal to resume production as soon as possible," said Kjell-Erik Nordby, CEO of Vistin Pharma.
As a consequence of the reactor defect, a discharge of butanol and metformin to water, which exceeded the current permit levels, occurred. The incident has been reported to the Norwegian Environment Agency.
The reactor was last inspected during a scheduled inspection by the equipment manufacturer in October 2016, and certified for another five years.
Vistin Pharma's metformin plant has been running at full capacity throughout 2016. Earlier this year, the Company decided to invest in a major expansion of the plant, effectively doubling the annual production capacity to in excess of 6 000 metric tonnes. Vistin has a pipeline of new business development opportunities across its metformin business and continues to grow its premium customer base.
For further information, please contact:
Kjell-Erik Nordby CEO +47 91 36 42 80
Gunnar Manum CFO +47 95 17 91 90
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
