Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Vistin Pharma quarterly report Q3 2021. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Kjell-Erik Nordby. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, and welcome to Vistin Pharma third quarter reporting. The presentation will be held by myself, Kjell-Erik Nordby, the CEO of the company, and Alexander Karlsen, the CFO. First, we start with the highlights for the quarter. We continue to deliver strong revenues also in the third quarter. The revenue for the quarter ended at NOK 63 million compared to NOK 55 million third quarter last year, which is a 14% increase in revenue. The increase was driven by first of all, higher sales volume and also higher sales prices, which was partly offset by a significantly stronger Norwegian kroner versus euro in the quarter.
Year to date, we have achieved more than NOK 200 million in revenue, which is a 6% growth compared to last year, despite a very strong Norwegian currency throughout the year. Sales volume was also up 6% year to date compared to last year. The EBITDA ended at MNOK 4.6 in the quarter versus MNOK 9.5 in Q3 last year, which is a 52% decrease. The EBITDA was unfavorably affected by the strong Norwegian kroner throughout the quarter. Also, increased raw material costs following the COVID-19 pandemic and record high international freight costs.
I guess you all also have realized or also heard in news, et cetera, about this heavy congestion in international freights, especially from Asia to Europe. The world freight index has been more than 600% higher than the same compared to last year. The electricity prices has also been very high in the third quarter and also compared to last year. The EBITDA year to date ended at NOK 36.5 million versus NOK 44.3 million last year. We are on track for an all-time high production volume in 2021, which is of course very important for us since we have a very strong demand still for our products.
The Fikkjebakke plant has been running at full capacity. However, we had a 10-day stop due to lack of raw materials in July. We have recovered and also achieved a higher production volume in the quarter compared to last year, despite this stop. The stop is caused by low predictability and significant interruption in freight lead times from Asia to Europe. However, we have been proactively building security stocks of key raw materials and believe we have control over the situation, and the stop will not impact the total volume for the year, which will be record high if the fourth quarter is running according to plan. The Metformin Expansion Project is progressing according to time and cost.
We still believe that the first commercial batch from the second production line will happen in Q2 2022. We have now paid more than 55% of the investment of the new production line as of end September. We have, after this payment also, a cash balance of NOK 52 million at the end of the quarter, and still no interest-bearing debt in the company. We continue to deliver strong revenues. The revenue has increased by 17% from Q3 2019 to Q3 2021. It is a solid underlying growth in the market.
EBITDA has also increased by 50%, even though that third quarter this year was lower than the third quarter 2020. On the operational side, as you probably all know that Vistin Pharma is the only dedicated metformin producer in the world. We live and breathe with metformin 24/7 . This is our key and only product. Diabetes is one of the largest health emergency in the 21st century. metformin is the gold standard treatment of type 2 diabetes. that actually amounts to that, the growth in the metformin market is expected to be 5%-6% annually in the coming ten-year period, according to WHO.
We see a bright outlook for Vistin Pharma as being one of the leading producer of metformin in this growing market. Metformin actually went off patent in the sixties. However, it's, as we said, it's still the gold standard treatment for type 2 diabetes. One of the reason is that it actually is very efficient to reduce the liver production of glucose and delays and reduces absorption of glucose from the intestine. It is a very cost-efficient treatment. It has been used for treating type 2 diabetes for decades, and it has limited side effects and long-term safety profile. It's a very cost efficient and safe treatment. It comes normally in tablet form, and also lately in combination with other glucose-reducing medicines. It's a big generic market.
However, it is also a patented market with novel, innovative, new formulations, which is second or third line treatment. Vistin metformin is inside both the novel products and also in many of the generic formulations that are marketed worldwide. Diabetes is regarded and defined by the international health authorities as a global emergency. The number of diabetes two patients worldwide will increase by more than 50% during the coming 20- 30 years. It's a growth in diabetes in all regions all over the world. This next slide shows the coverage of our sales. The red bubbles indicate where actually our main customers are located.
However, since most of our customers are either multinational, global, or strong regional players, metformin from Vistin is in tablets sold to consumers in more or less all countries in the world. As I mentioned in the highlights, we have a record high sales volume year-to-date compared to last year. It's a 6% increase, which is, of course, extremely important for us. The sales volume for this quarter, the third quarter, was 861 metric tons, which is 12% higher than the same quarter last year, which show the demand also and how successful we are in the market with our products. Year-to-date is, as I said, a 6% increase.
We have a 3% increase in production volume in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year, even with the 10 days production stop due to lack of one of our key ingredients. The plant is running really nice, and we have had no interruption in the production whatsoever in year-to-date except from this unplanned stop. We are, as we speak, and have been taking actions to secure future supply and also improve delivery performance of raw materials from Asia. As you may be aware of, there has been, or there are still port congestions. There's a lot of ships waiting on the harbors in, for example, Antwerp and Rotterdam.
We are taking measures to secure that our material is being loaded to trucks from key locations in Europe. Finally, before I give the word to our CFO, the corona pandemic status, the pandemic is not over yet, even though that the countries are opened up. We are still taking actions to secure that we do not get corona-infected employees in Vistin Pharma. We have had no incidences of corona in our plant so far. The demand in the market is high. It has not been affected by the epidemic, and the forecast going forward, if you look at the demand for metformin has not been altered or changed due to the corona pandemic.
I have mentioned the lack of containers in Asia that has increased the freight costs, which of course is an effect following the COVID-19 crisis, not for Vistin solely, but for the whole world or the whole manufacturing industry. However, in this landscape, we believe that we are strategically well-positioned to benefit from the expected increase in local supply demands going forward. We can reach more or less any destination in Europe within 24 hours with a truck from our manufacturing plant in Kragerø, which give us a competitive edge over especially Asian manufacturer. We turn to the financial review, and I give the word to Alexander.
Thank you, Kjell-Erik . We'll take a closer look at the financials, starting with the revenues. NOK 8 million or 14% increase year-over-year, mainly driven by increased sales volume and increased ASP or average selling price. However, as Kjell-Erik mentioned, part are offset by a strong NOK versus euro. If we FX adjust the numbers in Q3 this year compared to same quarter last year, the revenue increase would be around or close to 18%, so a very nice increase there. Unfortunately, we see the gross margin going down versus or compared to previous quarters. That is mainly driven by the extremely high transportation costs to transport containers with raw materials from Asia, especially China to Europe. We're starting to see more pressure from our raw material suppliers on increased price.
We are working closely with our customers to see how we can get compensated for the significant increase in cost of goods. This is something, of course, we will work closely with the customers also going forward for next quarters as we see the continuous pressure from increased raw material prices. Looking at the results of the pharmaceuticals, EBIT came in at MNOK 4.6 versus MNOK 9.5 in the similar quarter last year. A decrease of close to or a bit more than 50%. If we adjust the numbers for FX here, the actual decrease will be around half or 27%-28%. Again, we see pressure on freight on raw materials. In addition, we have in the third quarter had really high electricity prices.
I think it's three to four times the prices per kilowatt hour versus same period last year. As I think we have mentioned before, electricity is one of the main cost drivers at our plant in Fikkjebakke to produce the metformin. We also, in addition to this, have a cost increase on water. That's another important cost driver in the plant. We use water to cool down the production area. Looking at the earnings before taxes came in at NOK 2 million for the quarter, down from around NOK 6 million similar quarter last year. Depreciation for the quarter were NOK 2.4 million compared to NOK 2.3 million in the same quarter last year. I think we've been through most all or highlighted the most important figures in the previous slide, so we continue to the balance sheet.
It's not a lot of changes since the comparable period last year, but there are some small increases in fixed assets, which is driven by the next project, which is the investment in a new parallel production line at the Fikkjebakke plant. The deferred tax assets is in relation to the realized loss for the energy trading and slightly decreasing as we have our profit quarter by quarter. The next main item is that there is actually a decrease in cash balance compared to similar quarter last year, driven by dividend payout in June and the investment in the MEP project. Total assets as of end September around NOK 317 million , which is quite the same level as in the quarter of last year.
Proceeding to the equity and liabilities. Share premium has decreased there and driven by the dividend payouts. As we mentioned in the highlights, no interest-bearing debt in the company as of now. We have some lease contracts that are recognized in the balance sheet according to IFRS, close to NOK 2 million. Equity around NOK 268 million equals an equity rate of 85%, so it's a very strong balance sheet. Liabilities are, say, similar as last year, NOK 48.5 million . Again, total equity and liability is close to NOK 317 million . I think that was all from me and I go back to you, Kjell-Erik.
Thank you. To sum up, we are very bullish about the future of Vistin. The metformin market is growing. Diabetes will continue to be a very important and challenging disease in the future. Metformin is a very safe and cost-effective treatment and will continue then to be the gold standard for the treatment of diabetes II. Our sales are progressing nicely. We have, I think we have established very good relationships with customers, also working with new customers. We see a very attractive growth potential to be realized when we have additional manufacturing capacity and additional volume to sell.
The COVID-19 situation, although it's a very bumpy road at the moment with high freight costs and and you name it, from a market perspective and strategic perspective, the industry are looking for companies that can lower the risk in the supply chain, offer short travel time, and also focus on factors like environmental, social, governance standards, et cetera, where we believe we have done quite a lot of work during the last five years and also have some very interesting project in pipeline, which we maybe will talk more about in the coming quarterly presentation.
The project to increase the capacity to benefit from the increased demand and growing market, the capacity to increase the volume to approximately 7,000 metric tons is on track. Hopefully we will have the first commercial batch from the second production line released to the market by Q2 2022. That sums up the third quarter presentation of Vistin Pharma. We now leave the rest of the call to any questions that you may have.
Thank you. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press the pound or the hash key. Once again, star and one on your telephone.
We have, as of now, received one question, and that is, can you give an update on the sales of the new max capacity available both from Q2 2022? I'll leave that to you, Kjell-Erik, to answer.
Yes. Thank you. We do not give any guidance to the future. As I said in the summary, we are optimistic that demand in the market from existing customers and new customers will give us additional sales when the new line is open. However, we are not willing or not prepared to give you any how much of the additional capacity that will be sold. However, we are positive that we will fill the new line with volumes as we go along.
Once again, to ask a question on the telephone, it's star and one. There are no questions coming through, sir. Please continue.
I think another question that came up is, can you say something about the prices, that we charge our customers? I'll leave that to you also, Kjell-Erik.
What we can say here is that, of course, when the market is developing as it does with higher freight costs incurred currently, which is now probably not a very sustainable long-term, but at the moment, of course, that is something that hits all manufacturers, whether it's pharmaceuticals or else. We are in discussions with customers to increase prices to compensate for the increased cost of goods sold.
I think there are several questions coming in kind of asking, you know, the similar things about sales prices and compensate the cost increase. I'll add some additional points there. I think in Q3 we see kind of a perfect storm where we see the, as you mentioned, the raw materials increase, we see the transportation increase. In addition, we have the, I would say, extremely high electricity prices, specific for Norway, and also the water increase from the municipality.
There are a lot of costs that are going in the wrong direction. As we mentioned in the report, we have a continuous dialogue with customers to see how we can get that compensated, and we will continue with that going forward to see how we can mitigate that. I think to call it complete, the short feedback is yes, it is possible, and we will increase sales prices due to the increased cost of goods sold. I can't, and we won't say anything about how much or what kind of effect that will have.
Thank you. Once again, star one on your telephone if you wish to ask a question.
I think we've finished the call now. It doesn't seem that we don't get any more questions. We'll thank you for listening in, and we finish the third quarter presentation now.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.