Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Vistin Pharma quarterly report for Q3 2023. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you need to press star one one on your telephone. You'll then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. You can also submit your questions via the webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'll now like to hand the call over to your first speaker today, Mr. Kjell-Erik Nordby, CEO of the company. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and welcome to Vistin Pharma's third quarter reporting. We are happy to present another strong quarter for the company. We achieved all-time high revenue and also EBITDA and sales volume in the third quarter. The revenue ended at NOK 120 million, which is a 30% increase compared to last year. The main driver for the increased revenue is that we had more volumes available for sale from the second line that we installed in Q1 last year. Year to date, the revenue is NOK 328 million, compared to NOK 194 million last year, and that is a total of 69% increased sales. EBITDA ended at NOK 27 million, compared to -NOK 3 million in Q3 last year.
The main drivers for the positive EBITDA effect is, the, first of all, the increased sales volume, which also give us, scale economy benefits. The competitive electricity prices, from the long-term agreement that we signed with Statkraft, last year, and also a strong currency effect, euro versus NOK. In addition, we also had, booked NOK 2.7 million in bonus accrual for the quarter, and we had nothing, in, bonus accrual last year. As I mentioned that, we see the, the positive economies of scale effects, materializing now as the net volume continues to ramp up. Year- to- date, the EBITDA is, NOK 61 million, compared to negative of NOK 16 million last year.
In addition to that, we had a net profit positively affected with approximately NOK 10 million in the quarter by fair value of future FX cash flow hedging contracts. That is an unrealized gain and have no cash effect in the quarter. We have a strong balance sheet with equity ratio of 78%, and the company has no interest-bearing debt by Q3. Then we would like to also present Magnus Tolleshaug appointed as the new CEO of Vistin Pharma from first of January 2024. Since I have decided to step back at the end of this year. Magnus, he's coming from position as the Chief Commercial Officer in Vistin Pharma.
He started his career in Vistin Pharma in first of March 2020. Before he joined Vistin Pharma, Magnus worked several years in Takeda as Head of Global Launch Excellence and Product Lifecycle Management, and he has been an important contributor to delivering our ambitious growth strategy, and also to fill the expanded volume in our plant. We continue with that we are a pure-play metformin company, as we have presented several times during the last quarters. Diabetes is one of the largest health emergencies in the twenty-first century. There is no sign that, unfortunately for the world, that diabetes is going to cease, or that there's going to be less diabetes patients going forward.
There is still a lot of patients out there that are not diagnosed, and metformin will continue to be the gold standard treatment of diabetes type 2, mainly because it is an extremely cost-efficient treatment with and also with very few side effects compared to other medicines out there. And that means that the demand for metformin is growing, and the last report that we have received indicates that the demand for metformin will grow by almost 10-23,000 metric tons by 2028. As the metformin is the first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most prominent indication of diabetes. It's more than 90% that suffers from diabetes that have type 2. And we are very proud by contributing to deliver metformin to more than 50 million patients every day. So we contribute to global health every day. The total number of diabetes patients is expected to rise to more than 780 million by 2045. And as I mentioned, that already by 2028, the demand of metformin will increase by approximately 23,000 metric tons. Then we go out to the financials, and I give the word to Alexander.
Thank you. Thank you, Erik. Looking at this historical graph of revenue in NOK million, as you can see, we continue to deliver strong growth. For 2023, it's only first, second, and third quarter counting here, so we still have one quarter to go. Having a look at the sales volume in the third quarter, we had a new record. We sold 1,400 metric tons in Q3, compared to 1,200 tons previous quarter, and 1,030 tons in Q3 2022. Having a look at the graph on the right side, sorry, we have the annual sales volume.
For the first, second, and third quarter this year, we have sold approximately 3,750 tons, compared to 3,480 tons last year, which is a full year, and 3,740 tons for 2021, also that full year. A significantly increase in 2023. Having a look at the revenue, more volume available for sale has increased the revenue to NOK 120 million in the quarter. And as Kjell-Erik mentioned, that's mostly driven by more volumes available for sale from the new production line. The revenue was also positively affected by a weaker NOK versus euro. However, adjusted for FX effects, the currency neutral revenue increased by approximately 20% compared to the same quarter last year.
We would also like to emphasize that to fill the additional net capacity going forward, more of the sales volume will be generic, which generally has a lower price than the premix volume. Looking at the gross margin, it's continuing to improve quarter-over-quarter, both nominal and also adjusted for currency. Comparing to the same quarter last year, it's important that last year had a one-time negative cost effect. And as previously, the ambition for long-term gross margin is 60% or above. Having a look at the result and EBITDA, which was a new record for one quarter, came in at NOK 27 million, compared to -NOK 3 million in Q3 2022. This quarter has been very strong, with good sales prices and high sales volume.
In addition, the EBITDA is positively affected by a favorable FX, meaning a strong euro versus NOK, and only partly offset by a strong U.S. dollar versus NOK. We also booked a bonus accrual of NOK 2.7 million in the quarter. Nothing has booked, but has been booked in Q1 or Q2 this year, or in the Q3 last year. And as we say, we are very pleased to see that now that we're ramping up the volume, we are seeing great economies of scale, which is helping on the costs. Looking at some key figures, we've been through some of the numbers. However, we will- I'll mention earnings before tax, NOK 30.1 million.
Looking at depreciation, there's an increase up to NOK 4.4 million for this quarter compared to last year, and that's driven by the capitalization of the MEP project in Q4 last year. We had a positive financing income in Q3, and that is driven by the partner's reversal of the unrealized loss for future FX contract, hedging contracts in Q2. This has, however, no cash effect in the quarter. Summing up, this give a net profit for the period of NOK 23.5 million, compared to negative NOK 6.7 million Q3 last year. Having a look at the balance sheet, there is no significant changes compared to previous periods. For the non-current assets coming in at NOK 237.4 million, compared to NOK 229 million same quarter last year, increase mainly driven by MEP project in fixed assets.
Total current assets, 149 million, mainly contributing is inventory and receivables, and the total current assets in Q3 last year was around 133 million. That gives total assets of 386.5 million, compared to 362.7 million last year. This has been an increase in both raw materials and finished goods in the quarter, and we expect the inventory of raw materials to continue to increase in Q4 because we have purchased additional material at favorable prices. It was expected that increase to start in Q3, but has been partly delayed to Q4. Having a look at the equity and liabilities, total equity at around 301 million, compared to 254 million last year.
Total liabilities, NOK 85.4 million, compared to NOK 108.5 million, same quarter last year. We continue to have a strong balance sheet. Since Q2, this year, we have had no interest-bearing debt. We have, however, sufficient credit facilities if needed, and as mentioned, that we expect increased capital requirement, a working capital in Q4 as we build up additional stocks of raw materials. I think that was it for the financial share, so I bring the word back to you.
Okay. Just, to finish off this, quarterly presentation, to say something about our strategy, we, we call it double volume, double care strategy, which is also have a, we also have a, a very firm and strong objective regarding ESG, that this double volume should have no negative effect on the environment whatsoever. Mentioned previously, we are strategic, well-positioned, as one of the two European producers of, metformin. So we can, deliver, what we call short-traveled medicine to our customers in Europe. We produce two different, qualities of metformin, a bulk API, and also a pre-granulated, direct compressible material. What's important for us, to actually to achieve the, our, our, our vision to become one of the leading, manif- metformin producers in the world, is to enhance our capability to supply tailor-made products.
That's important as a premium producer. We do that today, and we are going to continue to do so. Since this is an extremely high volume, kind of low-value product, the COGS and to increase the productivity and efficiency in the supply chain is important to us. And we have achieved a number of benefits already, but this is a relentless focus on improving COGS by, for example, investing in cost-efficient supplier raw materials, waste handling, lean operations, et cetera. So this is part of our daily life to really focus on these aspects.
As you know, as you said, the metformin market is expected to grow going forward by 4%-7%, depending on which kind of market analysis you read. Then to take part of that growth and also to take part of our customers' expected demand, growing demand going forward, we decided to invest approximately NOK 100 million to increase the capacity up to 7,000. By year-end, our capacity is close to 6,000, and we believe that this volume will continue to the manufacturing volume will continue to grow during 2024 and also 2025. Quality is one of our sales arguments as a premium producer. We sell to reputable international pharma companies.
We have a state-of-the-art, fully automated manufacturing plant in Kragerø, that's certified by all significant international regulatory bodies. For example, residual solvents like DMA, et cetera, is very, very, very low in our products compared to many of our competitors. I think that's sum up a little bit of our strategy. Before opening up for questions, I would like to say just a few words. This is sadly my last quarterly presentation. I would say that first of all, I've been proud to being the CEO of first Weifa. I started my career as CEO in Weifa in 2009, and from the day Vistin was established in 2015, I've been the CEO of the company.
Vistin has had more than 300% revenue growth during the last seven years. We have become one of the leading metformin players, and we have made Fikkjebakke the most modern and environmentally friendly global metformin plant. I have enjoyed every minute as the CEO in Vistin, so I would like now to take the opportunity to thank the board, my great colleagues, and our shareholders for your great and valuable support during my watch. I believe Vistin has a really great future ahead, and I look forward to closely follow the company's development when I retire. And I think we should open up for any questions.
We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question on the phone, please press star one one . At this time, there are no questions from the phone line. Please continue.
There is a question that, do you have any plans for a line three at the plant? I would say that I think that the most important thing for us to focus on now is to fill the second line with volume so that we achieve the full scale of economy effect, and that we can produce and sell the 7,000 metric tons. When we have completely sold out the 7,000 tons volume, and that we see that there is still a demand and a possibility for us to sell more than 7,000 metric tons, we are prepared to look into a line three, if that makes economic sense.
And there's a question of there is new products coming to the market, which is not plain metformin products, but it's metformin in combination with other APIs. And we sell metformin to these patented products. Will they have any impact on the demand for metformin going forward? We do not think so, because this product is already marketed, and since metformin is such a cost-efficient treatment, and there is already quite a burden on health budgets globally, we think that metformin will continue to be the first-line treatment, and that the much more expensive combination products or other products will be other second- or third-line treatments.
And then there's a question on dividend. The board of directors did receive a power of attorney from the board to pay out up to 35 øre of dividend per share. The power of attorney is valid until annual general meeting in 2024. So the board will come back if and when they potentially decide for a dividend. But I think just notice that we did receive grants for electricity, the high electricity prices in 2022, and if we decide and pay out a dividend in 2023, we have to pay out, sorry, pay back the grant we received. But if we have, however, decide in the beginning of 2024 a dividend and payout, then there is no repayment of the grant.
The last question is that if you can comment on potential new contracts, either in the premium or generic segment. This is something that we, of course, can't comment upon in detail, but we are optimistic that we will fill the 7,000 metric tons volume in the plant going forward. It takes some time before you actually start to engage with a customer and that you have commercial volumes to that customer, and that is due to regulatory issues, timelines, et cetera, with the authorities. But we have many leads ongoing, and we are quite certain that some of these leads will materialize into contracts. I think that's all for now. So, again, thank you for listening.
Thank you for your support, and we look forward to the Q4 presentation.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.