Elite Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Q4 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 15 Jun 2021

[Operator:]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the Elite Pharmaceuticals Conference Call. At this time, all lines have been placed on a listen-only mode. Before management begins speaking, the company has the following statements. Elite would like to remind their listeners that remarks made during this call may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to changes at any time, including, but not limited to statements about Elite’s expectations regarding future operating results. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Federal Securities Laws and represent management’s current expectation. Actual results may differ materially. Elite disclaims any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, except as required by law. More complete information regarding forward-looking statements, risks and uncertainties can be found in the reports Elite files with the SEC, which are available on Elite’s website at elitepharma.com under the Investor Relations section. Elite encourages you to review these documents carefully.

[Nasrat Hakim:]

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Nasrat Hakim. I am Elite’s, Chairman and CEO. This is our earnings call. And with us for the first time is our new CFO, Mr. Marc Bregman. Marc joined late on May 17th following Carter Ward’s resignation. Marc brings with him a wealth of relevant experience and skills in financial and operational leadership that will be of tremendous benefit to Elite. Marc is an excellent addition to Elite’s executive team. Welcome aboard Marc. I would like to thank Carter Ward for his years of service and dedication to Elite. Carter is no longer our CFO, but he is a long-term shareholder and supporter of the company. We are very happy for him and his family. We congratulate him on his new position and wish him well. As with our usual format, Marc will give us a summary of the company’s financials. After which I’ll come back with a corporate update and answer some of the questions that you’ve submitted to Dianne. I am delighted to introduce you to our new CFO, Mr. Bregman. Marc, you have the floor.

[Marc Bregman:]

Thank you, Nasrat, and thank you to everyone for calling in today. As you heard in Nasrat’s introduction, I am Marc Bregman, Elite’s new CFO. To give you a brief background about myself. I have over 27 years of financial and operational experience, including positions as Controller at Langan Engineering and Controller at Chemtrade Logistics. I also help corporate financial positions at Chemetall and National Starch & Chemical and early in my career I spent several years as an auditor. I have a deep understanding and wealth of experience in financial accounting, financial planning and analysis, governance and compliance, and financial auditing, Sarbanes Oxley, and cost accounting. I must say, I’m excited to be part of Elite and to help the company continue to grow and move to the next level. Yesterday we filed our 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2021. We’re on a March fiscal year. So the fourth quarter is our year end. Copy of the 10-K is available in the Investors section of our website, elitepharma.com. Today I’d like to give an overview of the financials and add a bit of commentary as well. As always, we received questions and comments from shareholders and Elite followers, and we will do our best to make sure we address those comments in our presentation.

[Nasrat Hakim:]

Thank you, Marc. In today’s update I’m going to talk about safety. Elite’s goals for the next two, two and a half years as they pertain mostly to R&D and commercial products, a couple of thoughts about financials and then we’ll take some Q&A. Regarding safety, we are operating in a once in a century pandemic. COVID-19 is a pandemic that is affecting us all. It is affecting the Elite, our suppliers, service providers, and sales and marketing partners. We are following local and federal guidelines, and the CDC recommendations. Among the many things that we have done to protect our employees and business is to increase the airflow and circulation in the manufacturing rooms. In addition to hyperfiltration, we installed UV lamps to ensure that if viruses and bacteria reach an air conditioning or a heating ventilation system, they’ll be killed before they end up in someone else’s office.

[A - Nasrat Hakim:]

The question is our press release no longer refers to a pipeline of proprietary pharmaceutical abuse deterrent opioid products or drug products which have high barrier to entry. Does that mean those aspects of the business plan are gone for good?

[Nasrat Hakim:]

Thank you all for joining us and looking forward to talking to you in a couple of months. Thank you, Kate.

[Operator:]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today’s event. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.