Amerisourcebergen Corporation (ABC) has reported 31.81 percent plunge in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has earned $411.47 million, or $1.86 a share in the quarter, compared with $603.45 million, or $2.68 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $390.65 million, or $1.77 a share compared with $385.33 million or $1.68 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 4.06 percent to $37,147.40 million from $35,698.36 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 37 basis points over the previous year period to 3.38 percent. Total expenses were 98.32 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 97.34 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 98 basis points in operating margin to 1.68 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $624.98 million, compared with $950.48 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $588.47 million compared to $594.12 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin contracted 8 basis points in the quarter to 1.58 percent from 1.66 percent in the last year period.

"AmerisourceBergen is consistently delivering solid performance in a challenging marketplace. We are very pleased with our second quarter results, our team’s ability to strategically execute and the continued growth of our anchor customers. We also take great pride in our strong customer relationships, including our long-term contract with Express Scripts, which we recently renewed and now extends through 2022," said Steven H. Collis, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AmerisourceBergen. “We offer our pharmaceutical manufacturer and provider customers the most innovative and business-critical services and solutions to support and drive their growth. The overall response to these offerings has been extremely positive and their adoption continues to grow."

For fiscal year 2017, Amerisourcebergen Corporation projects revenue to grow in the range of 5.50 percent to 6.50 percent.  The company projects adjusted operating income to grow at 2 percent. The company forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $5.77 to $5.92 on adjusted basis.

The company has spent $269.47 million cash to meet investing activities during the first six months as against cash outgo of $2,874.55 million in the last year period.

The company has spent $436.31 million cash to carry out financing activities during the first six months as against cash inflow of $1,600.38 million in the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $2,404.43 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, down 4.79 percent or $120.85 million from $2,525.29 million on Mar. 31, 2016.

Working capital remains negative
Working capital of Amerisourcebergen Corporation was negative $2,037.51 million on Mar. 31, 2017 compared with negative $1,700.84 million on Mar. 31, 2016. Current ratio was at 0.92 as on Mar. 31, 2017, down from 0.93 on Mar. 31, 2016.

Cash conversion cycle (CCC) has increased to 23 days for the quarter from 10 days for the last year period. Days sales outstanding were almost stable at 22 days for the quarter, when compared with the last year period.

Days inventory outstanding has decreased to 14 days for the quarter compared with 28 days for the previous year period. At the same time, days payable outstanding went down to 59 days for the quarter from 60 for the same period last year.