Spi Pharmaceuticals Inc

SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc., a small Costa Mesa drug company, said Monday that its Yugoslavian joint-venture company has received a $22-million order for pharmaceutical products from a Soviet trading company. This is the largest order for Belgrade-based ICN Galenika since Costa Mesa-based SPI acquired 75% of Yugoslavia's largest drug company, Galenika Pharmaceuticals, for $50 million in May. ICN Pharmaceuticals, also of Costa Mesa, owns 80% of SPI.

Holders of SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s stock received a belated Christmas present Wednesday: additional stock instead of cash as a dividend for the fourth quarter. Announcement of the payout came a month after the company said it was slashing by 75% its cash dividends for the quarter, a move that had prompted a sell-off of the stock. The Dec. 4 decision to cut the quarterly dividend from 26.25 cents a share to 6.25 cents was in response to international sanctions against Yugoslavia.

Viratek Inc., a subsidiary of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., reported a 43% drop in second-quarter earnings Friday, while its sister company SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. showed a record 33% jump in profit for its second quarter ended June 30. Higher profits for SPI, which manufactures and distributes 600 prescription pharmaceutical products, were explained by a 56% increase in the company's gross profit margin, officials said.

Buoyed by the success of its new Eastern Europe joint venture, SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter profits more than doubled to $8.7 million, up from $3.4 million for the same quarter last year. The company earned 52 cents per share on sales of $96.8 million, contrasted with earnings of 22 cents per share on sales of $31.4 million for the third quarter of 1990. SPI stock, which is traded on the American Stock Exchange, rose 37 cents Wednesday to close at $18.75.

SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s planned merger with Yugoslavia's second-largest drug maker, Galenika, is on track, SPI's chairman said Tuesday, but ironing out details of the deal will take another three to six months. The acquisition, announced in February, is expected to cost SPI between $50 million and $100 million, including the expected cost of renovating Galenika's pharmaceutical plants in Yugoslavia, SPI Chairman Milan Panic said.

SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s foray into Eastern Europe begins today as it takes control of Yugoslavia's leading drug manufacturer, Galenika Pharmaceuticals Inc. The new subsidiary, called ICN Galenika, is a joint venture with SPI owning 75% and Galenika, a state-owned company with a smattering of other small industrial ventures, retaining a 25% interest. Three of the company's four directors will come from SPI, while Dr.

SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Costa Mesa has completed its merger with Yugoslavia's largest drug and chemical manufacturer and will form a new company that will have expected annual sales of $370 million. Under the agreement announced Thursday, the assets of Belgrade-based Galenika Pharmaceuticals would be transferred to a new joint venture company, ICN Galenika Inc., to be based in Costa Mesa.

Milan Panic, the colorful founder and head of SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc., told shareholders on Wednesday that he is embarking on an ambitious five-year plan to triple the company's annual sales by concentrating on key world markets. Acknowledging that SPI Pharmaceuticals, the chief subsidiary of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Taking advantage of Russian efforts to return companies to aprivate hands, SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday that it has created a joint venture with the country's oldest and largest drug company, completing negotiations that began more than 16 months ago. The joint venture between the Costa Mesa company and the drug concern known as Oktyabr in St. Petersburg is the first privatization of a major pharmaceuticals company in the former Soviet Union. The new company is called ICN Oktyabr.