Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the country’s largest drug-maker by market capitalisation, posted strong revenue and earnings growth for the first quarter after factoring out one-time provisioning related to a previously disclosed patent case in the US.
The firm reported a net loss of Rs 1,276.1 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, as against a profit of Rs 795.5 crore in Q1 FY13. However, this was due to a provision of Rs 2,517 crore to settle its $550 million patent litigation related to generic pantoprazole. Under the terms of the litigation settlement between Sun Pharma, Wyeth (now a division of Pfizer, Inc.) and Altana Pharma AG (now known as Takeda GmbH), the parties have dismissed all their claims.
Sun Pharma is to pay a lump-sum of $550 million as a part of this settlement. It had previously paid Rs 584 crore in Q2 FY13 towards this liability and made up with one-time provisioning for the balance.
In a separate development during the quarter, Sun Pharma’s subsidiary received a favourable verdict from the US Federal Circuit Court regarding its ongoing patent litigation with Novo Nordisk for generic Prandin.
Results
Net sales of the company rose 31 per cent to Rs 3,482 crore during the quarter over the same period last year.
Adjusted for the impact of one-time sales recorded in the domestic business in Q4 FY12, which lowered Q1 FY13 sales, the net sales have grown 23 per cent over Q1 FY13. Branded generic sales in India, at Rs 849 crore, grew 44 per cent over Q1 last year. Adjusted sales growth of the domestic formulation business was 11 per cent.
US-finished dosages sales were pegged at $364 million, recording a growth of 28 per cent (in US dollar terms) over Q1 last year. International formulation sales, at $81 million, grew 19 per cent over the same quarter last year.
The EBITDA of the company, at Rs 1,531 crore, grew 26 per cent year on year although the EBITDA margins shrank to 44 per cent, compared to 46 per cent last year. Recurring net profit at Rs 1,241 crore witnessed a growth of 56 per cent over Q1 last year.
The firm said it has completed the process of transferring its domestic formulations business to Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
