Strong year-over-year growth from its TheraSphere therapeutic radiopharmaceutical business and cobalt-60 shipments powered Nordion to a 39% increase in revenue in the company's third quarter of fiscal-year 2011 (end-July 31).
Revenue increased to $66.8 million Canadian ($67.4 million U.S.), compared with $47.9 million ($48.3 million U.S.) in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. The company also reduced its net loss in the third quarter to $4.1 million ($4.14 million U.S.), compared with a net loss of $15 million ($15.1 million U.S.) in last year's third quarter.
For the nine-month period, revenue advanced to $200 million ($202 million U.S.), compared with $140.3 million ($141.7 million U.S.) in the same period of fiscal 2010. Nordion posted net income of $9.9 million ($10 million U.S.), compared with a net loss of $247.7 million ($250.1 million U.S.) in the same period a year ago.
While Nordion's numbers are on the upswing now, CEO Steve West is warning that the planned shutdown of Atomic Energy of Canada's (AECL) molybdenum-99-producing nuclear reactor in the third quarter of 2012 will adversely affect the company's revenues next year.
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, West said Nordion's Russian molybdenum-99 supplier will not be able to make up the difference in the loss of supply from AECL's National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.
