BackLupin Q4 net up 68% on robust sales growth
Lupin Q4 net up 68% on robust sales growth
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Mumbai: Pharma major Lupin Ltd on Wednesday posted a 68.2% jump in quarterly net profit on new drug launches and robust growth in its key markets like the US, India and Japan.
The company posted a net profit of Rs148 crore on net sales of Rs917 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, slightly lagging street estimates.
A Reuters’ poll of 16 brokerages had forecast a net profit of Rs188 crore on net sales of Rs1287 crore for the quarter ending 31 March.
On a consolidates basis, the company’s net profit for the Jan-March quarter rose by 40.2% to R220 crore on net sales of Rs1284 crore, it said in a statement.
“Our biggest market... the US has grown by about 39% while Japan and India sales grew by about 20% each (during the quarter)," Nilesh Gupta, group President and Executive Director, Lupin, told Reuters over the telephone.
“We have launched three products already (since January) and few more are comping up," he added.
The company’s profit margin for FY10 was slightly above 14%, he said.
“On raw material front, we were able to improve it (spend) by about 1 while the personnel cost remained the same," he added.
“We expect to further improve profit margin in the current fiscal (FY11)."
The company spent about Rs357 crore, or 7.5% of its annual revenue, on research and development activities in FY10, he added.
Growth and Expansion
The Mumbai-based drugmaker expects sales in the US market to grow at 39% while its domestic business would rise by 20%-21% in FY11, he added.
However, the company does not expect an easy run in the Japanese market.
“The Japan (growth) is little tricky because we have to also worry about the forex variations... and the price cuts (of medicines) that are happening," he added.
He however said the increased use of generic drugs and new product launches would drive growth in Japan in FY11.
The company in FY10 almost doubled its capacity to about 15 billion tablets per year by setting up a new facility at Indore in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
“We have spent about Rs4.43 crore in FY10 as capex, largely to set up the new plant at Indore," he said. “The capital expenditure for FY11 would be huge," he added without specifying a number.
Shares of Lupin, which have gained more than 38% in over last six months, closed 4.24% up at Rs1,820.2 in a Mumbai market that ended down 0.29% on Wednesday.
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