Tongjitang's 1st-qtr 2008 revenue falls 29%

Tongjitang Chinese Medicines' first-quarter 2008 net revenues decreased 29% year-on-year to 105.8 million renminbi ($15.1 million), as sales of Xianling Gubao fell 39% to 70.3 million renminbi and other core products declined 29% to 13.5 million remnimbi.

During the period, the Chinese drugmaker says net income totaled 11.9 million, or 0.35 renminbi per American Depositary Share, 0.09 remnimbi per standard share. According to the firm, this per share performance reflects the 29% increase in the weighted average number of shares used in the calculations, resulting from the company's initial public offering in March 2007.

Operating loss totaled 8.4 million renminbi compared to operating income of 46.4 million renminbi in the first quarter of 2007. Operating costs include expenses that did not occur in the prior year period, including 9.3 million renminbi in share-based compensation expenses, allocated to general and administrative costs as well as increased R&D expenditure.