Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the country’s largest drug-maker by market capitalisation, posted strong revenues and a four-fold increase in net profit for the September quarter led primarily by robust sales for its US business and strong earnings at its Israeli subsidiary Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
The firm reported a net profit of Rs 1,362 crore compared with Rs 320 crore in the same period last year. It recorded net sales growth of 58 per cent for Q2FY14 at Rs 4192 crore.
Domestic business
For the Mumbai-headquartered company, the sale of branded prescription formulations in India during the quarter stood at Rs 949 crore, up 17 per cent from the same period last year.
“The performance of all our businesses exceeded our plans. We continue to develop a differentiated and specialty driven product basket,” Dilip Shanghvi, managing director of the company, said.
Overseas business
The company saw a 74 per cent revenue growth from its US business at $419 million which accounted for 61 per cent of its total sales. For the first half, sales were $783 million, recording a growth of 49%, it said.
In a separate development during the quarter, Sun Pharma's subsidiary launched generic Prandin in the US Market. Being the first-to-file, it is entitled to 180 days of marketing exclusivity for this product in the US market, the company said.
The Israeli subsidiary of the company, Taro Pharmaceuticals Industries (which announced its September quarter results on Tuesday), posted sales of $205 million, up by 28 per cent compared with Q2 FY13. The net profit of the company stood at $96 million, up by 47 per cent over Q2 last year. The formulation business for markets apart from US and India contributed $79 million, seeing a growth of 17 per cent.
The firm reported a net loss of Rs 1,276.1 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, 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.
The company has revised its revenue growth forecast to 25 per cent compared with 18-20 per cent set earlier.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)